Behind the sachems stood the chiefs, the two names not being synonymous
among the Iroquois, and although the name of the Mohawks was called
first the Onondagas were masters of the ceremonies, were, in fact, the
priests of the Hodenosaunee, and their first chief, Tododaho, was the
first chief of all the League. Yet the Senecas, who though superior in
numbers were inferior in chiefs, also had an office, being Door Keepers
of the Long House, while the Onondagas were the keepers in the larger
sense. The eighth sachem of the Senecas, Donehogaweh, had the actual
physical keeping of the door, when the fifty sachems met within, and he
also had an assistant who obeyed all his orders, and who, upon occasion,
acted as a herald or messenger. But the Onondaga sachem, Honowenato,
kept the wampum.
The more Robert saw of the intertwined religious, military and political
systems of the Hodenosaunee, the more he admired them, and he missed
nothing as the Onondaga sachems received their brother sachems of the
allied tribes, all together being known as the Hoyarnagowar, while the
chiefs who were elective were known collectively as the Hasehnowaneh.
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