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Show i8oo] EASTERN INDIANS 153 took precedence over the permanent officers of the clans and tribes. s The religion of this group was, as usual, the belief in " manitou," or mystery, individualized in innumerable forms and brought into relation with man through various rites and ceremonies of sha-manistic character. The general conceptions are best brought out in the mythologies of the group, which have to do with a great number of " mani-tous" of varying powers and character. \ There is always one- e. g., Manibozho- who plays the leading r61e and is the benefactor and culture hero of the tribe. His exploits and adventures are related in great detail and form a cycle of myths about which the other stories cluster. It was in the early misconception of this character and his representatives in the different Algonquian tribes that the prevalent erroneous notion of the " Great Spirit" of the Indians had its origin. 1 The Iroquoian tribes which break the continuity of the Algonquian domain form, in many ways, the most interesting group on the continent^ In general culture they are not to be differentiated from the stocks around them, but in political development they stand unique. The main seat of the family was, on the St. Lawrence River and in New York state. \ In the latter area the so- called Five Nations- the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca- formed a barriertb Algonquian """" rBee chap, xvi., below. |