is people. But, in the Indian sense, he was not the
leading chief. This position belonged to Tekarihoken (better known in
books as Tecarihoga) whose primacy as the first chief of the eldest among
the Iroquois nations was then, and is still, universally admitted. Each
nation has always had a head-chief, to whom belonged the hereditary right
and duty of lighting the council-fire, and taking the first place in
public meetings. But among the Indians, as in other communities,
hereditary rank and personal influence do not always, or indeed
ordinarily, go together. If Hiawatha could gain over Dekanawidah to his
views, he would have done much toward the accomplishment of his purposes.

In the early dawn he seated himself on a fallen trunk, near the spring
from which the inhabitants of the long-house drew their water. Presently
one of the brothers came out with a vessel of elm-bark, and approached
the spring. Hiawatha sat silent and motionless. Something in his aspect
awed the warrior, who feared to address him. He returned to the house,
and said to Dekanawidah, "a man, or a figure like a man, is seated by the
spring, having his breast covered with strings of white shells." "It is
a guest," replied the chief; "go and bring him in. We will make him
welcome." Thus Hiawatha and Dekanawidah first met. They found in each
other kindred spirits. The sagacity of the Mohawk chief grasped at once
the advantages of the proposed plan, and the two worked together in
perfecting it, and in commending it to the people. After much discussion
in council, the adhesion of the Mohawk nation was secured. Dekanawidah
then despatched two of his brothers as ambassadors to the nearest tribe,
the Oneidas, to lay the project before them. The Oneida nation is deemed
to be a comparatively recent offshoot from the Mohawks. The difference
of language is slight, showing that their separation was much later than
that of the Onondagas. In the figurative speech of the Iroquois, the
Oneida is the son, and the Onondaga is the brother, of the Mohawk.
Dekanawidah had good reason to expect that it would not prove difficult
to win the consent of the Oneidas to the proposed scheme. But delay and
deliberation mark all public acts of the Indians. The ambassadors found
the leading chief, Odatshehte, at his town on the Oneida creek. He
received their message in a friendly way, but required time for his
people to consider it in council. "Come back in anot