e reverence which
they had for the tribal law. The wars that they waged were primarily
for political independence, for the fundamental principle of their
confederation was that by uniting with one another they would secure the
peace and welfare of all with whom they were connected by ties of blood.
They prevented blood feuds by decreeing that there should be a price for
the killing of a co-tribesman, and they abstained from eating the flesh
of their enemies in order to avoid future strife. So thoroughly did they
believe in the rights of the individual that women were accorded a high
position. Among some of the tribes the consent of all the women who had
borne children was required before any important measure could be taken.
Candidates for a chiefship were nominated by the votes of the mothers,
and, as lands and houses were the property of the women, their power in
the tribe was great.

The Iroquois were sedentary and agricultural, and depended on the chase
for only a small part of their existence. The northern tribes were
especially noted for their skill in building fortifications and houses.
Their so-called castles were solid wooden structures with platforms
running around the top on the inside. From the platforms stones and
other missiles could be hurled down upon besiegers. According to our
standards such dwellings were very primitive, but they were almost as
great an advance upon the brush piles of the Utes as our skyscrapers
are upon them. Farther south in the Carolinas, the Cherokees, another
Iroquoian tribe, stand out prominently by reason of their unusual mental
ability. Under the influence of the white man, the Cherokees were the
first to adopt a constitutional form of government embodied in a code
of laws written in their own language. Their language was reduced to
writing by means of an alphabet which one of their number named Sequoya
had devised. Sequoya and other leaders, however, may not have been
pure Indians, for by that time much white blood had been mixed with the
tribe. Yet even before the coming of the white man the Cherokees were
apparently more advanced in agriculture than the Iroquois were, but less
advanced in their form of government, in their treatment of women, and
in many other respects. In general, as we go from north to south in
the region of deciduous forests, we find that among the early Indians
agriculture became more and more important and the people more
sedentary, though not always m