196 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
admit of the chronicling of the formation of the League of the Five 
Nations, which as far as can be ascertained took place about the 
year 1390.* 
The purposes for which this League or Confederation of the 
Five Nations was formed were to enable them to protect themselves 
against the invasion of their vast domain by other Nations who were 
hostile to them, and also the formation of a form of Government which 
has since the birth of this League existed with but very slight modifica- 
tions up to the present time. 
The student of ethnology may find something which may be of 
interest to him in this little volume, compiled as it is by the elder 
ceremonial Chiefs who are now among those who are ruling the people 
of the Six Nations as Chiefs or Lords, under the old regime of dynastical 
Lords, in perpetuation of that system of Government by hereditary 
succession as constituted by De-ka-nah-wi-deh and his associates 
at the time of the formation of the League of the Iroquois Confederacy. 
This little volume is not intended to be a concise history of this 
ancient people, but simply a chronicling of those interesting tradi- 
tions which have been for centuries handed down from father to son 
in connection with the formation of the League. 
There is no doubt in the mind of the writers of this preface that 
many of the ancient traditions of the Six Nations have become much 
modified, and some have been long relegated to oblivion owing to the 
fact that in the earlier history of these people there were for a long 
time no members of the Band capable of rendering these traditions in 
writing and thus preserving them intact to their posterity. 
It is, however, a noteworthy fact that the League of the Five 
Nations Confederacy (now known as the Six Nations) as constituted 
centuries ago by De-ka-nah-wi-deh and his associates, has been main- 
tained in accordance with the rules of the Confederacy as laid down by 
the founder of the League; and that the installation of the Lords or 
Chiefs as rulers of the people, laid down in these unwritten rules 
hundreds of years ago, is still strictly observed and adhered to by the 
Chiefs of the Six Nations and people. 
With reference to the origin or birth, character and doings of 
De-ka-nah-wi-deh as herein chronicled, it will be observed that there 
exists an analogy or similarity to biblical history and teachings. This 
is portrayed very strongly in the narration of the birth of De-ka-nah- 
wi-deh and also in certain extraordinary powers which he is attributed 
to have possessed. 
* The reader will be interested in Horatio Hale’s note on this subject (see The 
Iroquois Book of Rites p. 177-180) D.C.S. i 
