54 : ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
heavily moulded figure and features, clad in the plain costume of a sub- 
stantial farmer, and bearing in his hand a staff, with which he seemed to 
time his steady walk. Placing himself near the side of the wall occupied 
by the chiefs and their followers, he paced slowly to and fro from one end 
of the room to the other, chanting in a high, strong, not unmusical voice, 
with his face inclined a little forward, and his eyes steadily fixed on the 
floor. His look was that of a man engaged in a serious and important 
duty, which forbade him to spare himself or his hearers one moment of 
time or one quaver of his voice. He began with the Condoling Song 
repeating each line twice, as I have heard it sung by John Buck, with 
many ejaculations of “haih-haih” between the lines. Then, to my sur- 
prise, he took up the concluding litany of the Book of Rites, the hymn to 
the fifty chiefs and councillors, the founders of the League. It subse- 
quently appeared that he left the intermediate portion of the ritual to be 
chanted by another singer. The litany was sung, not in its abridged 
form as printed, but with all the lines which, in the written and printed 
copies, have been omitted near the close, for brevity’s sake, and which 
were now duly pealed forth in honour of the leaders of each ancestral 
clan. These lines (substituting “all hail” for “haih-haih”) have been 
thus rendered : 
“This was the roll of you! 
All hail! all hail! all hail ! 
You that combined in the work ! 
All hail! all hail! all hail! 
You that completed the work ! 
All hail! all hail! all hail! 
The Great League! 
All hail! all hail! all hail!” 
These interminable repetitions, with their endless exacerbation of 
“ hath-haihs,’ was a fearful infliction; but the sedate assembly bore it 
with unmoved patience. Every now and then a brief chorus of assent . 
would be heard from the chiefs at either corner—a slow murmur, rising 
unexpectedly and dying away. It should be remembered that the word 
here rendered “League” (Kayanerenh) meant originally and properly 
“peace.” It was the “great peace” among the nations, which was estab- 
lished by Hiawatha and his companions, that their successors in the 
Council had been taught to celebrate, and to impress upon the people 
by these elaborate ceremonies. When this fact is considered, the proceed- 
ings acquire a dignity and importance which will account for the impres- 
sion produced on the assembled hearers, and which make them really 
worthy of our admiration. Toward the close the singer gave some signs 
of exhaustion. But when he sat down there was no appearance of relief 
in the audience. In fact, they knew that there was much more to come. 
He closed abruptly, and quietly took his seat with the other chiefs 
of the junior nations. A pause of profound silence ensued. After a time 
