thers at every installation of a high chief, do not repeat
these inventions of marvel-loving gossips, and only smile with
good-humored derision when they are referred to.

There was at this time among the Onondagas a chief of high rank whose
name, variously written--Hiawatha, Hayonwatha, Ayongwhata,
Taoungwatha--is rendered, "he who seeks the wampum belt." He had made
himself greatly esteemed by his wisdom and his benevolence. He was now
past middle age. Though many of his friends and relatives had perished
by the machinations of Atotarho, he himself had been spared. The
qualities which gained him general respect had, perhaps, not been without
influence even on that redoubtable chief. Hiawatha had long beheld with
grief the evils which afflicted not only his own nation, but all the
other tribes about them, through the continual wars in which they were
engaged, and the misgovernment and miseries at home which these wars
produced. With much meditation he had elaborated in his mind the scheme
of a vast confederation which would ensure universal peace. In the mere
plan of a confederation there was nothing new. There are probably few,
if any, Indian tribes which have not, at one time or another, been
members of a league or confederacy. It may almost be said to be their
normal condition. But the plan which Hiawatha had evolved differed from
all others in two particulars. The system which he devised was to be not
a loose and transitory league, but a permanent government. While each
nation was to retain its own council and its management of local affairs,
the general control was to be lodged in a federal senate, composed of
representatives elected by each nation, holding office during good
behavior, and acknowledged as ruling chiefs throughout the whole
confederacy. Still further, and more remarkably, the confederation was
not to be a limited one. It was to be indefinitely expansible. The
avowed design of its proposer was to abolish war altogether. He wished
the federation to extend until all the tribes of men should be included
in it, and peace should everywhere reign. Such is the positive testimony
of the Iroquois themselves; and their statement, as will be seen, is
supported by historical evidence.

Hiawatha's first endeavor was to enlist his own nation in the cause. He
summoned a meeting of the chiefs and people of the Onondaga towns. The
summons, proceeding from a chief of his rank and reputation, attrac