16 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



the English tongue. The following naay be taken as a typical 

 example. Dekanawida, in detailing 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'nyon'." 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 •signi- 

 fication is "We have made ordinances, or laws, or regu- 

 lations." 



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 " requickening address." But it is custom- 

 ary 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 metaphoric use of terms that charac- 

 terize 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 

 autocrat 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°," a composite and intricate war 

 ceremony of the Osage tribe. The name signifies the deter- 

 mination of the warrior who becomes a member of the cere- 

 monially organized war party to show no mercy to the enemy 

 and that he shall be even as the fire — a power that consumes 

 all things that happen to be in its destructive course. 



