The league of the Iroquois and other legends : from the Indian muse
The league of the Iroquois and other legends : from the Indian muse
The league of the Iroquois and other legends : from the Indian muse
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312 NOTES.<br />
Note 48. " <strong>The</strong> snowy parchment dressed <strong>and</strong> wrong /if. Page 177.<br />
From great Skan-o-do's hairy hide."<br />
" <strong>The</strong> practice <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> North American tribes, <strong>of</strong> drawing figures <strong>and</strong> pictures<br />
on skins, trees <strong>and</strong> various o<strong>the</strong>r substances, has been noticed by travelers <strong>and</strong><br />
writers <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> earliest times. * * <strong>The</strong>se figures represent ideas whole ideas,<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir relation on a scroll, or bark, or tree, or rock, discloses a continuity <strong>of</strong><br />
ideas. * * Picture-writing is, indeed, <strong>the</strong> literature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Indian</strong>. It cannot<br />
be interpreted, however rudely, without letting one know what <strong>the</strong> red mi i<br />
thinks <strong>and</strong> believes." H. K. SCHOOLCRAFT, Vol. I. p. 333.<br />
" <strong>The</strong>y love to speak in a symbolical manner, all <strong>the</strong>ir symbols being drawn<br />
<strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> realm <strong>of</strong> nature. * * I once saw a Buffalo hide covered with figures iu<br />
<strong>the</strong> style <strong>of</strong> children's drawings, which represented battles, treaties <strong>of</strong> peace,<br />
<strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r such events ;<br />
<strong>the</strong> sun <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> moou, trees <strong>and</strong> mountains, <strong>and</strong> rivers,<br />
fish <strong>and</strong> birds, <strong>and</strong> all kinds <strong>of</strong> animals, having <strong>the</strong>ir part iu <strong>the</strong> delineations."<br />
Homes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> New World, p. 47.<br />
Note 49. " In. cares <strong>of</strong> State, .as woman should Page 179.<br />
Should woman have her part <strong>and</strong> place."<br />
" <strong>The</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world shows that it is one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tendencies <strong>of</strong> bravery to<br />
cause woman to be respected, <strong>and</strong> to assume her proper rank <strong>and</strong> influence in society.<br />
This was strikingly manifest in <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Iroquois</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y are<br />
<strong>the</strong> only tribes in America, north or south, so far as we have any accounts, who<br />
gave to women a conservative power in <strong>the</strong>ir deliberations. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Iroquois</strong> matrons<br />
had <strong>the</strong>ir representatives in <strong>the</strong> public councils ;<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>y exercised a negative,<br />
or what we call a veto power, in <strong>the</strong> important question <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> declaration<br />
<strong>of</strong> war. <strong>The</strong>y had <strong>the</strong> right also to interfere in bringing about a peace."<br />
H. E. SCHOOLCRAFT, Vol. III. p. 195.<br />
Tradition says that at <strong>the</strong> great Council, which resulted in <strong>the</strong> formation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
League, <strong>the</strong> women attended, <strong>and</strong> it preserves <strong>the</strong> name <strong>of</strong> Ja-go-sa-sa <strong>The</strong><br />
Wild Cat as a woman <strong>of</strong> unusual power that took part in its deliberations ;<br />
<strong>and</strong><br />
to whose insight <strong>and</strong> judgment, as we may infer, is due <strong>the</strong> liberal provisions <strong>of</strong><br />
this forest-government in favor <strong>of</strong> tho equal rights <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sexes.<br />
Note 50. "In her all titled lineage, Page I7.<br />
Through her <strong>the</strong> sachem's kingly line."<br />
" Not <strong>the</strong> least remarkable among <strong>the</strong>ir institutions, was that which coufineo<br />
<strong>the</strong> transmission <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> titles, rights <strong>and</strong> property in <strong>the</strong> female line to <strong>the</strong> exclusion<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> male. * * If <strong>the</strong> Deer tribe <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Cayugas, for example, received<br />
a sachemship at <strong>the</strong> original distribution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se <strong>of</strong>fices, <strong>the</strong> descent <strong>of</strong> such<br />
title being limited to <strong>the</strong> female line, it could never pass out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tribr. * ;<br />
By <strong>the</strong> operation <strong>of</strong> this principle, also, <strong>the</strong> certainty <strong>of</strong> descent in <strong>the</strong> tribe c.<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir principal chiefs, was secured ly a rule infallible; for <strong>the</strong> child must be <strong>the</strong><br />
son <strong>of</strong> its mo<strong>the</strong>r, although not necessarily <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mo<strong>the</strong>r's husb<strong>and</strong>."<br />
League <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Iroqtioitt, p. 84.