Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

Reprinted from Wampum Belts of the Iroquois by Tehanetorens

It is provided thus: When a candidate chief is to be installed, he shall furnish four strings of shell wampum one span length bound together at one end. Such will constitute the evidence of his pledge to the Chiefs of the League that he will live according to the Constitution of the Great Peace and exercise justice in all affairs. When the pledge is finished, the speaker of the council must hold the wampum strings in his hand and address the opposite side of the council fire, and he shall begin his address saying:

"Now behold him. He has now become a chief of the League. See how splendid he looks." An address may then follow. At the end of it, he shall send the bunch of wampum strings to the opposite side-Elder or Younger Brothers, whichever it may be-and they shall be received as evidence of the pledge. Then the speaker of the opposite side says:

"We now do crown you with the sacred emblem of the Deer's antlers, the emblem of your chieftainship. You shall now become a mentor of the people of the Five Nations. The thickness of your skin shall be seven spans, which is to say that you shall be proof against anger, offensive actions, and criticism. Your heart shall be filled with peace and good will. Your mind shall be filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the League. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty, and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodging in your mind. All your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation. In all your deliberations in the Council of the League, in your efforts at lawmaking, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast away. Do not cast over your shoulder behind you the warning of your Nephews and Nieces (your people) should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of The Great Law which is right and just. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people, and have always in view not only the present, but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground-the unborn of the future nation."