very slight; “but when his sons grew up to maturity he became more attached to them, making them his companions in the hunt and upon the war-path."

It seems only natural that men in whose minds warfare had already cultivated the clan idea were inclined as far as possible to employ the same principle in everything they did; hence, even in the village, the men's clans as such carried on a certain amount of direct production. According to Lafitau, when a lodge is to be erected, "the youth of the village are invited, a feast is given to encourage them, and in less than a couple of days the whole work is done."1 Then, too, the men must have coöperated in clearing the land for the village; they certainly did so in the work of fortifying the town.2

3

4

We are not surprised, therefore, upon considering their military habits, and the favorable nature of their environment, to hear that the Iroquois tended to employ the clan method even in their hunting. An army on the march was, as we have seen, often at the same time a hunting party, and vice versa. But organized companies were also in the habit of forming purely for hunting purposes. Mr. Morgan describes a favorite method of securing game: A large party of hunters was formed and a brush fence was built in the shape of the letter V, two or three miles in length on each side. The woods were then fired in the rear at some miles distant, so as to drive the deer toward the opening, into which they were guided by parties stationed upon either side. They followed the fence down to the angle, where the 1Lafitau, II, II.

2 Jes. Rel., X, 203.

LaHontan, "Voyages," II, 93-"Les Iroquois sont plus grands, plus vaillants, et plus rusez que les autres peuples, mais moins agiles et moins adroits, tant à la guerre qu'à la chasse, où ils ne vont jamais qu'en grand nombre."

Cf. Perrot, p. 54; Loskiel, pp. 78–79; Jes. Rel., XII, 273.

Jes. Rel., XXIV, 123; Jes. Rel., LIV, 73-" The ideas of all these tribes prompt them to the pursuit of nothing but hunting and warfare. Among them are seen only parties of twenty, thirty, or fifty men, of a hundred or sometimes two hundred; rarely do they go to the number of a thousand in a single band. These bands are divided, to go some in quest of men, and others in quest of beasts."

arrows of the unseen hunters soon brought them down one after the other. Sometimes a hundred were thus taken at one time." 1 These coöperating groups might be composed of men alone, as for instance, when the young men went out from the village for a day or two at a time; or they might be accompanied by women and children. The latter was usual during the long winter hunt. 2 In the latter case the women did not go as a clan, but merely as dependents of individual members of the men's organization. Thus, while in the productive life of the village the men's clan as the garrison played a part somewhat subordinate to that taken by the women's clan, during the hunting expedition the situation was reversed. Here control of the access to the source of supply, as well as the defense of the group, was in the hands of the men's clan, and consequently the women's organization entirely disintegrated.

5

The same thing occurred in the fishing season. Wherever coöperation was advantageous, the men worked according to that method, while the women acted in a subordinate capacity.3 More or less fishing was always carried on in conjunction with hunting,* but there were also many large and lengthy expeditions which had fishing as their sole purpose. Sometimes as many as three hundred to four hundred would go together and pitch their temporary camps on the same spot. Between the male members of such parties considerable coöperation would spring up. Among the Hurons seine-fishing was carried on by large parties, working harmoniously together. Everywhere the building and use of weirs and hurdles involved considerable coöperation.7 Loskiel mentions a case of the sort. A large net, made of a rope of wild

6

1 Morgan, "League," p. 345.

2 Jes. Rel., LIV, 117; LVII, 261; LVIII, 83; LV, 253, 255, 269; XXXI, 71; XXXIII, 83; XXXIV, 87.

3 Jes. Rel., LVII, 267.

Loskiel, p. 94-" The Indians always carry hooks and small harpoons with them, whenever they are on a hunting party."

5 Jes. Rel., XXXIX, 215; XV, 113, 125; XIX, 87; LIII, 243; XXVI, 41; LII, 175; LIV, 81.

6 Jes. Rel., XVII, 197.

Beauchamp, N. Y. St. Mus. Bul., No. 16, p. 197.

vine with a fringe of branches about six feet long, was used to sweep a stream; some members of the party walking along each bank held the ends of the wild-vine rope, and others supported the middle with wooden forks; at the weir, men standing on each side of the central opening, with poles and shouts drove the fish into a large perforated box; then other Indians stationed in canoes on each side took out the fish. Sometimes by this method more than one thousand were caught in half a day.1

The Iroquois method of production, then, was a double one. In the village, control of the surplus was shared between the men's and the women's clans-the latter carrying on most of the work of production; the former acting singly or collectively as a military guard. In the war and hunting expeditions, the women's clan entirely disappeared; yet in the general life of the community, the latter occupied the more important place. The reasons were two: in the first place, agriculture, the branch of production controlled by the women's clan, was becoming the chief dependence of the whole nation-more and more as the years went on, the Iroquois took on the characteristics of sedentary villagers living mainly on the produce of their cornfields; in the second place, the very nature of the work of the two clans gave the women's organization a decided advantage; fishing and hunting often did not allow extensive coöperation; hence, even in the hunting season, the men's clan economy might at any time give way before conditions demanding the adoption of the village or domestic system. Warfare, of course, absolutely demanded cooperation; nevertheless, it permitted great variations in the size and personnel of the band. In theory, the men of each gens formed a clan whose chief duty was the protection of its sister clan and of itself; in practice the clan was composed of rather unstable elements, the different objects to be accomplished determining in each case the number and make-up of the group. Often a small expedition might be made up of members of several different gentes. The women's clan, on the other hand, always presented an unchanged front. It had a definite task to perform, the magnitude of which did not vary much from year to year, 'Loskiel, p. 95; cf. Beauchamp, "Iroquois Trail,” p. 92.

and in which coöperation was always advantageous; every summer, the same amount of work, done upon the same spot, resulted in about the same product as in the year before: hence the female clan need never vary in membership or size; neither must it wander from place to place. It would be no wonder, therefore, if in regard to its influence upon the general character of the community, the men's clan should tend to occupy a position subordinate to that held by their sister organization.

Economic conditions led to the organization of the Iroquois into clans for similar reasons these smaller bodies were at the same time united in one large body, namely, the Tribe. The main motive for tribal organization was the necessity of defense. For this purpose, the tribe possessed the right to the services of all its male members. The actual strength of the army varied with circumstances. In times of peace the tribe tended to disintegrate and make scattered settlements, generally with some one gens predominating in each. In seasons of disturbance and alarm, there was likely to be only one great village in which the separate life of the gentes was merged in that of the whole. Once brought together by the necessity of close coöperation in defense, the tribal organization was strengthened by various other factors. The propitiation of forces controlling the weather was a strong bond of union, often in itself an effectual motive for combination. When any one was drowned or frozen to death, the Hurons believed that the sky was angry and instituted a series of sacrifices and feasts. According to the Jesuit Relation, "A gathering of the neighboring villages takes place, many feasts are made, and no presents are spared, as it is a matter in which the whole country is interested."1 A similar effect was caused by the necessity of common action to ward off epidemics. In such cases representatives of the warriors would feast together, and their example would be followed by the representatives of the women, some from each clan.2 Again, there was the constant danger of

1 Jes. Rel., X, 163.

2

Jes. Rel., XIII, 237; cf. Jes. Rel., X, 219—“ Here you cannot insult any one of them without the whole country resenting it, and taking up the quarrel against you, and even against an entire village."

a fire in which the whole village might be destroyed. Every inhabitant, at such a crisis, was de facto a member of the firebrigade. All these motives combined to cause a federation of the clans, and an organization of economic life from the point of view of the tribe.

The formation of the Iroquois into clans and tribes was the result of their primitive struggle for economic prosperity. Their organization into a confederacy of tribes, though an affair of much later date, had similar reasons for being. An understanding of some sort was indeed to be expected between tribes living next door to each other in a region marked off as a distinct geographic unity, speaking the same language, and standing on the same level of culture. In fact, the Iroquois soon became aware that the common enjoyment of utilities meant greater economic benefit for all, and that in union, rather than in individual independence, lay the secret of power against outside nations. The Hurons, to the north of them, were not long in recognizing the same fact. Among the latter the movement never went further than the formation of a mere league.1 The Iroquois, however, created a well organized Confederacy. Mr. Morgan was so impressed by the completeness of the Iroquois' plan of federation that he believed it to embody the well thought-out scheme of some one great leader. The truth seems to be that the Confederacy was the growth of many years.2 As early, perhaps, as

Jes. Rel., X, 211 sq.-"They maintain themselves in this perfect harmony by frequent visits, by help they give one another in sickness, by feasts and by alliances."

Other examples of such confederacies as the Iroquois and Hurons may be seen in that of the Creeks, consisting of six tribes; the Ottawa Confederacy (3 tribes); the Dakota League of the Seven Council Fires." Morgan, "Anc. Soc.," p. 122.

2 Parkman, “Christian Examiner," May, 1851-“The divided Iroquois harassed by the attacks of enemies, or threatened by a general inroad, might have been led to see the advantages of a league; and to effect that end, the most simple and obvious course would have been that the sachems of all the nations should unite in a common council. When this had been done, when a few functionaries had been appointed, and certain necessary regulations established, the league would have formed itself, without any