the futility of the proofs, derived from thé | supposed
coincidence of customs, which bave heen
brought forward with so much learnings and so
little of the true spirit of research,, to prove the
descent of the American aborigines from that
ancient and peculiar people. But -if theorists
have failed on this ground, what shall we • shy
of that course - Of reasoning, which^lays much .
stress on the most slender evidences of nativity,
in the instance of the great Mohawk: sachem, to
prove the superior chances of reeurringdalentdn
the line of hereditary descent, and thé .legitimacy
of his actual- claims to the chieftainship, on the
score of paternal right ?*■ .
What was true of the tötemic organisation of
the Senecas, was equally so of the Mohawks,,"
and of each of the other cantons. Each canton
Consisted, like the Senecas, of the Clans of the
wolf, bear; turtle, beaver, deer, falcon, plover,
and crane. But each of these clans were increments
of reorganizations of one of the eight original
clans, They were brothers, and appealed
to their respective totems as a proof of Original
# This remark is not made tq^d'eprecialerthe literary merits
of the esteemed arid lamented author of the Life o'f Brant,' hut ,
as being simply due to the cause of truth. Few men have
better earned the respect and remembrance of the publiby than
William L, Stone, whose whole life was an example of what
energy and. talents can achieve. It was.not, -indeed, to, be
expected that the incessant duties of the diurnal press should
permit historical scrutiny into a matter very obscure in itself,
and of which the details are only to be gleaned after laborious
search at reiriote points.
consanguinity. They were entitled to the same
rites of hospitality, in the lodges of their affiliated
totems abroad, that they were entitled to at
home. The affiliated mark on the lodge was a
sufficient welcome of entrance and temporary
abode. It results, therefore, that there were but
eight original family clans, estimating at the
maximum number existing in six cantonal departments,
or tribes, and that the entire six tribes
Wete hound together, politically, by these eight
family ties.- As a matter of course, each elan
was riot equally numerous in each tribe. This
would depend oh accidental circumstances and
natural laws;/but it is an argument in favor of
the antiquity of the people, or the confederacy,
that ;each ofthe tribes had organized in each of
the\re^pective clans. For we cannot suppose
that at first there was a systematic, far less an
equal division of the clans, or that their original
separation into separate tribes, or cantons, was
the result of a considerate formal public act.
This would be to reverse the ordinary progress
of tribes and nations who, in early ages, separate
from circumstances and causes wholly casual,
Such as the ambition or feuds of chiefs, the desire'
of finding better places to live, easier means
of subsistence, &e.-"
In the condition of a people, living in a government
so purely patriarchal, following game for
a subsistence, and making wars to enlarge or
defend their hunting grounds, the oldest and
most respected man of his clan or totem, would