INO 7, SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1910 12 
on 
of their ancestors. These things do not interest the great majority 
of persons as they did their ancestors ; and as it is absolutely essential 
that correct lexical and grammatic forms be recorded and expounded 
it is found a very difficult matter to secure trustworthy informants 
and interpreters. Inability to translate the meaning of the native 
vocables into equivalent English words is the greatest bar to the 
student in the acquirement of a consistent knowledge of the structure 
of the League and of its constituent institutions. Too pronounced 
personal views and fanciful preconceptions often render an infor- 
mant’s work useless. 
A most important result of Mr. Hewitt’s work in the field is the 
finding of conclusive evidence that the number of federal chiefs of 
the League of the Iroquois was originally forty-seven, which later 
by the addition of two recalcitrant Seneca chiefs was raised to 
forty-nine. The number fifty has appeared in all available written 
records and printed accounts of the League chiefs. This number 
has never been questioned hitherto but has been accepted as historical. 
The supernumerary chiefship, it is learned, was unwittingly added 
by Thomas Webster, a chief of the New York Onondaga, more than 
fifty years ago, through a misunderstanding of the meaning of the 
“ Bear-Foot ” episode of the ancient time and the significant action 
of the Federal Council of the League of the Iroquois, with reference 
to it. This false Websterian interpretation gained credence only 
after the dissolution of the integrity of the League of the Iroquois 
following the treaty of 1838 with the United States, which had the 
effect of permanently dividing the several tribes. 
The famous “ Six Songs ” of the Condoling and Installation Coun- 
cil of the League of the Iroquois were first translated, so far as 
known, into English for Mr. Horatio Hale (“ The Iroquois Book 
of Rites,’ 1883) by Chief John “Smoke” Johnson, who is there 
described as “the only man now living who can tell the meaning 
of every word of the ‘ Book of Rites.’ Yet, they were erroneously 
translated as “Songs of Greeting and Welcome.” But on gram- 
matic grounds and from their position in the ritual Mr. Hewitt has 
decided, tentatively at least, to translate them as “ Songs of Parting ” 
or “ Songs of Farewell,’ which are so dramatically sung, therefore, 
in behalf of the dead chieftain. 
The Dekanawida legend rehearsing the story of the founding 
of the League of the Five Nations, as told by the Mohawk and 
Onondaga annalists, is largely repudiated by the Cayuga wisemen 
now living. And there appear to be some grounds for their doc- 
trine. So Mr. Hewitt recorded a Cayuga version of the so-called 
