48 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1918. 



that of statecraft and ritualism — the utterances of the statesmen and 

 stateswomen of that earlier time, who had clear visions of institu- 

 tions which are to-day being formulated and written into the statutes 

 of our great republic. Among these may be mentioned the recall, 

 the initiative, the referendum, a full-fledged colonial policy, and 

 woman suffrage (limited to mothers), men having no voice in the 

 body which nominates their chiefs. 



It is well-nigh impossible to find an interpreter among the Iroquois 

 who is such a master of both the English and the native Iroquoian 

 languages as to be able to translate correctly a large number of 

 the most important native terms into the English tongue. The fol- 

 lowing may be taken as a typical example. Dekanawida, in detail- 

 ing the work of the founders in his " farewell address," used the 

 following term frequently, and it also occurs elsewhere. This word 

 is " We'dwenna'kera'da'nyoiV." The literal meaning is " We have 

 made types or symbols of things." This is the only rendering known 

 to most native interpreters. But its technical signification is "We 

 have made ordinances, or laws, or regulations." 



Another form of criticism is the discovery of the reasons which led 

 to the variation of the ritual as used by the father and mother sides 

 of the league. As an example the following may be cited. One or the 

 other of these sides is the mourning side in the council of condolence 

 and installation. The side which is not the mourning side employs 

 all fourteen of the sections of the " Eequickening address." But it 

 is customary for the mourning side, in replying, to employ only thir- 

 teen, omitting the ninth, which refers to the caring for the grave 

 of the dead chieftain. This omission may seem to be a small matter 

 to solve, but it is one which brings out the intense esoterism and meta- 

 phoric use of terms that characterize terminology of the institutions 

 of the federation or league of the five nations or tribes of the Iroquois. 



This definition or meaning shows that the rules of procedure 

 among the Iroquois Five Tribes were not the commands of an auto- 

 crat or tyrant, but rather the formulated wisdom of a body of peers, 

 who owed their position to the suffrages of those who owned the titles 

 to them, and that the form of government was a limited democracy, 

 or, strictly speaking, a limited gynecocracy. 



At the beginning of the year Mr. Francis La Flesche, ethnologist, 

 took up the task of putting together his notes on the "Wa-sha-be 

 A-thi n ," a composite and intricate war ceremony of the Osage tribe. 

 The name signifies the determination of the warrior \>ho becomes a 

 member of the ceremonially organized war party to show no mercy 

 to the enemy and that he shall be even as the fire — a power that con- 

 sumes all things that happen to be in its destructive course. 



The literal translation of the name, Wa-sha-be Athi n , is Wa-sha-be, 

 a dark object; A-thi n , to have in one's possession to carry. The word 



