The union was for the purposes of offence and defence and originally had a permanent central government lodged in fifty chiefs, who held office for life. In the colonial wars between the French and English and, later, in the Revolutionary War, the Six Nations were usually found fighting on the side of the English.
[Note 3] ([page 85])
Except for some tribes of the Pacific Coast, who held their captives as slaves, a male prisoner was either adopted into the tribe, or else put to death by torture, the decision usually resting with the women. If the prisoner's death was decided on, the most fiendish ingenuity was shown. While burning at the stake was the most common mode of death, it was usually preceded by a succession of tortures, carefully planned to prolong the victim's agony to the utmost.
[Note 4] ([page 107])
The turkey, now domesticated in nearly every country of the world, is a native of North America, and was unknown before the coming of Columbus. While now the wild turkey is almost extinct, the early settlers found these birds in the greatest abundance, and they formed a not unimportant portion of the frontiersman's fare.
[Note 5] ([page 192])
The Indian method of disposing of the dead varied with the different tribes and different localities. While burial in the ground was more common, many tribes, notably of the plains, placed the bodies in trees or upon platforms; others placed their dead in sitting positions in caves; still others practised cremation. It was the general custom to either burn or bury the personal belongings of the deceased, in order that he might enjoy their use in the life to come.
[Note 6] ([page 226])
Although smoking was a universal custom among the American Indians, tobacco was unknown to the rest of the world previous to the discovery of America; but its use has since spread to the four quarters of the globe. The Spaniards were the first European smokers, but their example was quickly followed by the other nations, although church and state did what they could to prevent the spread of the habit, Pope Urban VII having even gone so far as to issue an edict against it.
The scientific name, Nicotiana, was given tobacco in honor of Jean Nicot, French Ambassador to Portugal, who, on his return to France, presented a package of seed to Catherine de Medici.