farmers, hunters, and fishermen, like the Iroquois, would be tempting
victims. Before the confederacy was formed, some of its members,
particularly the Caniengas and Oneidas, had suffered greatly from wars
with the wilder tribes about them. The new strength derived from the
League enabled them to turn the tables upon their adversaries. But they
made a magnanimous use of their superiority. An enemy who submitted was
at once spared. When the great Delaware nation, the Lenapes, known as
the head of the Algonkin stock, yielded to the arms of the Kanonsionni,
they were allowed to retain their territory and nearly all their
property. They were simply required to acknowledge themselves the
subjects of the Iroquois, to pay a moderate tribute in wampum and furs,
and to refrain thenceforth from taking any part in war. In the
expressive Indian phrase, they were "made women." This phrase did not
even imply, according to Iroquois ideas, any serious humiliation; for
among them, as the French missionaries tell us, women had much
authority. [Footnote: "Les femmes ayant beaucoup d'autorite parmi ces
peuples, leur vertu y fait d'autant plus de fruit qu'autre
part."--_Relation of_ 1657, p. 48.] Their special office in war was
that of peace-makers. It was deemed to be their right and duty, when in
their opinion the strife had lasted long enough, to interfere and bring
about a reconciliation. The knowledge of this fact led the Lenapes, in
aftertimes, to put forward a whimsical claim to dignity, which was
accepted by their worthy but credulous historian, Heckewelder. They
asserted that while their nation was at the height of power, their
ancestors were persuaded by the insidious wiles of the Iroquois to lay
aside their arms, for the purpose of assuming the lofty position of
universal mediators and arbiters among the Indian nations. [Footnote:
Heckewelder's _History of the Indian Nations_, p. 56.] That this
preposterous story should have found credence is surprising enough. A
single fact suffices to disprove it, and to show the terms on which the