(the "manhood" or mankind) of the nation--as, in the following verse,
the word _wakonnyh_, which is also obsolete, signifies the
"womanhood," or all the women of the people with whom the singer
condoles. In the next line he invokes the laws which their forefathers
established; and he concludes by calling upon his hearers to listen to
the wisdom of their forefathers, which he is about to recite. As a
whole, the hymn may be described as an expression of reverence for the
laws and for the dead, and of sympathy with the living. Such is the
"national anthem,"--the Marseillaise,--of the ferocious Iroquois.

The regard for women which is apparent in this hymn, and in other
passages of the Book, is deserving of notice. The common notion that
women among the Indians were treated as inferiors, and made "beasts of
burden," is unfounded so far as the Iroquois are concerned, and among
all other tribes of which I have any knowledge. With them, as with
civilized nations, the work of the community and the cares of the family
are fairly divided. Among the Iroquois the hunting and fishing, the
house-building and canoe-making, fell to the men. The women cooked, made
the dresses, scratched the ground with their light hoes, planted and
gathered the crops, and took care of the children. The household goods
belonged to the woman. On her death, her relatives, and not her husband,
claimed them. The children were also hers; they belonged to her clan,
and in case of a separation they went with her. She was really the head
of the household; and in this capacity her right, when she chanced to be
the oldest matron of a noble family, to select the successor of a
deceased chief of that family, was recognized by the highest law of the
confederacy. That this rank and position were greatly prized is shown by
a remarkable passage in the Jesuit Relations. A Canienga matron,
becoming a Christian, left her country, with two of her children, to
enjoy greater freedom in her devotions among the French. The act, writes