chosen by their own body in the preceding reign, filled the office of electors, to whom were added, with merely honourary rank, however, the two royal allies of Tezcuco and Tlacopan. The sovereign was selected from the brothers of the deceased prince, or, in default of them, from his nephews. Thus the election was always restricted to the same family. The candidate preferred must have distinguished himself in war, though, as in the case of the last Montezuma.”[383] In other words, the election was restricted to a certain gens. Morgan says: “Nearly all American Indian tribes had two grades of chiefs, who may be distinguished as sachems and common chiefs. Of these two primary grades all other grades were varieties. They were elected in each gens from among its members. A son could not be chosen to succeed his father when descent was in the female line, because he belonged to a different gens, and no gens would have a chief or sachem from any gens but its own.” (Morgan here evidently forgot the right of adoption. It would be perfectly regular, should a gens wish to do so, to adopt a son into the gens in order that he might succeed his father.) “The office of sachem was hereditary in the gens, in the sense that it was filled as often as a vacancy occurred; while the office of chief was non-hereditary, because it was bestowed in reward of personal merit, and died with the individual. Moreover, the duties of a sachem were confined to the affairs of peace. He could not go out to war as a sachem. On the other hand, the chiefs who were raised to office for personal bravery, for wisdom of affairs, or for eloquence in council, were usually the superior class in ability, though not in authority over the gens. The relation of the sachem was primarily to the gens, of which he was the official head, while that of the chief was primarily to the tribe, of the council of which he, as well as the sachem, were members.”[384] [Illustration: ANCIENT PUEBLOAN MOCCASINS OF FIBRE, ARIZONA Except lower left hand one worn by the Ainos of Yezo, Japan. Introduced for comparison. The Ainos were probably the earliest inhabitants of Japan. In language and character they are different from Japanese ] As the Iroquois league was such an important affair, and as it was so thoroughly studied by Morgan, I will quote him further by giving his statement of the main points in the organisation. “I. The Confederacy was a union of Five Tribes (afterwards Six), composed of common gentes under one government on the basis of equality, each Tribe remaining independent in all matters pertaining to local self-government. “II. It created a General Council of Sachems, who were limited in number, equal in rank and authority, and invested with supreme powers over all matters pertaining to the Confederacy.