68 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



caroia, and al.so amontr tlie Munsee of the Delaware Al«2:onquian 

 •iroup of lanji'iiajies who dwell on tlie Haldimand jjrant on the (irand 

 River in Ontario, Canada. 



Here Mr. Hewitt took up the literary interpretation, revision, and 

 textual criticism of previously recorded voluminous Iro(|Uoian texts 

 relatino^ to the Constitution of the Lea<rue or Confederation of the 

 Iroquois tribes, embodyinj^ its laws and ordinances and the rituals 

 of the council of condolence for the deceased, and the installation of 

 new members of the P^deral and the tribal councils. 



With the aid of the two best Mohawk informants available who still 

 retain some definite knowledire of portions of the ancient institutions 

 of the lea<;ue of the Irotpiois, ^Ir. Hewitt made a free Enfjlish trans- 

 lation of an important one of these rituals, in addition to the free 

 rendering of the chant of " The seven songs of farewell," and thereby 

 recovered the symbolic reason for the ver}- peculiar name of the 

 former. This ritual is called Ka'rhawe"'hrfi'to"', in ISIohawk, and 

 Gri'hawe"'ha'di', in Onondaga, meaning, '* Cast or thrown over the 

 grand forest." When used ceremonially both these chants are sep- 

 arated into two portions, and the four portions alternate in their 

 rendition in such manner that part one of the one chant is followed 

 by part one of the other; and part two of the first is followed by 

 part two of the second chant. But when chanted " a veil of skins " 

 (shawls or blankets serve in modern times) must be' hung across the 

 place of assembly in .such wise as to divide the mourning from the 

 other side of the league. 



Ceremonial or legislative action by the tribe or by the league is 

 taken only through the orderly cooperation of two sisterhoods of 

 clans for the former, or of two sisterhoods of tribes for the latter. 

 This dualism in the highest organic units of organization w\is o-igi- 

 nally based on definite mythic concepts. In either organization one 

 sisterhood represented the female ])rinciple or the motherhood in 

 nature, and the other sisterhood the male principle, or the father- 

 hood in nature. This dualism is thought to be so important that the 

 Janguage of the rituals and of official courtesy employ terms embody- 

 ing the ethnic and mythic significance of it. 



By a searching study of all symbolic terms and phrases occurring 

 in the chants of these rituals, which impliedly might refer to the 

 highest dramatized situation revealed by these two divided chants, 

 the parts of which are recombined as described above, Mr. Hewitt 

 was able to identify beyond all reasonable question the phrase " the 

 veil of skins " with the other phra.se " the grand forest." The 

 '• grand forest " represents ritualistically the totality of the forests 

 which intervene between the lands of the mourning side of the league 

 and those of the other side, represented as symbolically intact in 



