12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



Ritual of the Condolence Council were thus typewritten : The 

 fore part of the Ceremony of Condolence, called " Beside-The- 

 Forest," or "Beside-The-Thicket," in Mohawk; the so- 

 called " Requickening Address, " in the Onondaga version, 

 and also the explanatory "introduction" and the "reply" 

 in Onondaga to the " Beside-The-Forest " address already 

 noted; and the installation address in Onondaga, made by 

 Dekanawida to the last two Seneca leaders to join the 

 League, was likewise edited and typewi'itten. Mr. Hewitt 

 also devoted much study to other parts of the League ma- 

 terial, for the purpose of being able to discuss it intelligently 

 and critically with native informants. Some of the most 

 striking results of this year's field work are due to this pre- 

 paratory study of the material already in hand. Mr. Hewitt 

 spent many days in the office in searching out and preparing 

 data for replies to correspondents of the bureau. 



On April 17, 1916, Mr. Hewitt left Washington for the Six 

 Nations reserve near Brantford, Ontario, for the purpose of 

 resuming field work, having in view primarily the putting 

 into final form of the Onondaga and Mohawk texts pertaining 

 to the League of the Iroquois, recorded in former years. 

 These texts cover a wide range of subjects and represent the 

 first serious attempt to record in these languages very techni- 

 cal and highly figurative language from persons unaccus- 

 tomed to dictate connected texts for recording. These texts 

 embody laws, decisions, rituals, ceremonies, and constitu- 

 tional principles; hence it is essential that correct verbal and 

 gi'ammatic forms be given. 



One of the most important results of Mr. Hewitt's field 

 studies is the demonstration that, contrary to all available 

 written records and various printed accounts, there were 

 never more than 49 federal civil chiefs of the League of 

 the Iroquois, and that the number 50, due to misconception 

 of the meaning of ordinary terms by Thomas Webster of the 

 New York Onondaga, who died about 30 years ago, is modern 

 and unhistorical. This false teaching has gained credence 

 because it arose only after the dissolution of the integi-ity of 

 the League of the Iroquois in the years following its wars with 

 the United States, when most of the tribes became divided, 



