As the Israelites were divided into TRIBES, and had chiefs over them, so the Indians divide themselves: each tribe forms a little community within the nation—And as the nation hath its particular symbol, so hath each tribe the badge from which it is denominated. The sachem of each tribe, is a necessary party in conveyances and treaties, to which he affixes the mark of his tribe, as a corporation with us doth their public seal[IV].—If we go from nation to nation among them, we shall not find one, who doth not lineally distinguish himself by his respective family. The genealogical names which they assume, are derived, either from the names of those animals, whereof the _cherubim_ are said in revelation, to be compounded; or from such creatures as are most familiar to them. They have the families of the _eagle_, _panther_, _tyger_, and _buffalo_; the family of the _bear_, _deer_, _racoon_, _tortoise_, _snake_, _fish_; and, likewise, of the _wind_. The last, if not derived from the appearance of the divine glory, as expressed by the prophet Ezekiel, may {15} be of Tyrian extraction. We are told in the fragment of Sanchoniathon, that the Tyrians worshipped fire and the ærial wind, as gods; and that Usous, the son of Hyposouranias, built a sacred pillar to each of them: so that, if it is not of Israelitish extraction, it may be derived from the Tyrians their neighbours—as may, likewise, the appellative name of _fish_; especially, as the Indians, sometimes, invoke the eagle, and the fish, when they are curing their sick. The Tyrians were the people, in early times, who, above all others, enriched themselves in the natural element of the fish. Footnote IV: Many of the ancient heathens followed the Jewish custom of dividing themselves into tribes, or families. The city of Athens was divided into ten parts, or tribes, and which the Greeks called _Phule_, a tribe. They named each of the heads that presided over them, Archegos, Archiphulogos, &c. And writers inform us, that the East-Indian pagans have to this day tribes, or casts; and that each cast chuses a head to maintain its privileges, to promote a strict observance of their laws, and to take care that every thing be managed with proper order. The ancient heathens mimicked a great deal of the Jewish ceremonial law. The Indians, however, bear no religious respect to the animals from which they derive the names of their tribes, but will kill any of the species, when opportunity serves. The _wolf_ indeed, several of them do not care to meddle with, believing it unlucky to kill them; which is the sole reason that few of the Indians shoot at that creature, through a notion of spoiling their guns.[12] Considering the proximity of Tyre to Egypt, probably this might be a custom of Egyptian extraction; though, at the same time, they are so far from esteeming it a deity, they reckon it the most abominable quadruped of the whole creation.