ADMINISTKATIVE REPORT 13 



some removing to Canada and some remaining in New York 

 State, a condition which natm-ally fostered new interpreta- 

 tions and newer versions of older legends and traditions. 



Mr. Hewitt also recorded a Cayuga version of the so-called 

 Dekanawida tradition, comprising 130 pages of text, dictated 

 by Chief John H. Gibson, which purports to relate the events 

 that led to the founding of the League or Confederation of the 

 Five Iroquois tribes and the part taken therein by the prin- 

 cipal actors. In this interesting version Dekanawida is 

 known only by the epithet "The Fatherless," or literally 

 "He Who is Fatherless," which emphasizes the prophecy 

 that he would be born of a virgin. In this version " The 

 Fatherless" is represented as establishing among the Cayuga 

 tribesmen the exact form of government that later he founded 

 among the Five Iroquois Tribes. It is said that the Cayuga 

 selfishly limited the scope of that form of government, and 

 therefore its benefits, to the Cayuga people alone, for the 

 Cayuga statemen did not conceive of its applicability to the 

 affairs and welfare of all men. And so, this tradition 

 affirms, it became needful that "The Fatherless" return to 

 the neighbor tribes of the Cayuga to establish among them 

 the League of the Five Tribes of the Iroquois, which was de- 

 signed to be shared by all the tribes of men. This event is 

 mentioned in the other Dekanawida versions. 



This Ca3aiga version also purports to explain the origin of 

 the dualism lying at the foundation of all public institutions 

 of Iroquois peoples, by attributing the first such organization 

 among the Cayuga to two persons who were related to each 

 other as " Father and Son," or " Mother and Daughter," and 

 who agreed to conduct public affairs jointly. This statement 

 of course is somewhat wide of the mark, because it does not 

 explain the existence of similar dualisms among other tribes, 

 such dualisms resting commonly, in the social organization, 

 on the dramatization of the relation of the male and female 

 principles in nature. 



Mr. Hewitt was also able to confirm another radical exe- 

 gesis of a part of the installation ceremony of the League of 

 the Iroquois as first proposed by himself. This deals with 

 the significance and the correct translation of the words of 



