Now, the same reason
which has created New York gave to the position of the
Five Nations its great importance in Canadian history.
But in reality the racial stock of the Iroquois extended
much farther than this, both west and south. It took in
the well-known tribe of the Eries, and also the Indians
of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac. It included even the
Tuscaroras of the Roanoke in North Carolina, who afterwards
moved north and changed the five nations into six.
The Iroquois were originally natives of the plain,
connected very probably with the Dakotas of the west.
But they moved eastwards from the Mississippi valley
towards Niagara, conquering as they went. No other tribe
could compare with them in either bravery or ferocity.
They possessed in a high degree both the virtues and the
vices of Indian character--the unflinching courage and
the diabolical cruelty which have made the Indian an
object of mingled admiration and contempt. In bodily
strength and physical endurance they were unsurpassed.
Even in modern days the enervating influence of civilization
has not entirely removed the original vigour of the
strain.
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