a
large door on the eastern side, and one or two smaller ones on the other
sides. As Henry arrived, the great chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Iroquois
were entering the building, and about it were grouped many warriors and
women, and even children. But all preserved a decorous solemnity, and,
knowing the customs of the forest people so well, he was sure that the
ceremony, whatever it might be, must be of a highly sacred nature. He
himself drew to one side, keeping as much as possible in the shadow,
but he was using to its utmost power every faculty of observation that
Nature had given him.

Many of the fires were still burning, but the moon had come out with
great brightness, throwing a silver light over the whole village, and
investing with attributes that savored of the mystic and impressive
this ceremony, held by a savage but great race here in the depths of the
primeval forest. Henry was about to witness a Condoling Council, which
was at once a mourning for chiefs who had fallen in battle farther east
with his own people and the election and welcome of their successors.

The chiefs presently came forth from the Council House or, as it was
more generally called, the Long House, and, despite the greatness of
Thayendanegea, those of the Onondaga tribe, in virtue of their ancient
and undisputed place as the political leaders and high priests of
the Six Nations, led the way. Among the stately Onondaga chiefs were:
Atotarho (The Entangled), Skanawati (Beyond the River), Tehatkahtons
(Looking Both Ways), Tehayatkwarayen (Red Wings), and Hahiron (The
Scattered). They were men of stature and fine countenance, proud of
the titular primacy that belonged to them because it was the Onondaga,
Hiawatha, who had formed the great confederacy more than four hundred
years before our day, or just about the time Columbus was landing on the
shores of the New World.

Next to the Onondagas came the fierce and warlike Mohawks, who lived
nearest to Albany, who were called Keepers of the Eastern Gate, and who
were fully worthy of their trust. They were content that the Onondagas
should lead in council, so long as they were first in battle, and there
was no jealousy between them. Among their chiefs were Koswensiroutha
(Broad Shoulders) and Satekariwate (Two Things Equal).

Third in rank were the Senecas, and among their chiefs were Kanokarih
(The Threatened) and Kanyadariyo (Beautiful Lake).

These three, the Onondagas, Mohawks, and Senecas