NO. I SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I919 "/l 



This arrangement naturally tended strongly to preserve the tra- 

 ditional and the concrete knowledge of the distinctively federal insti- 

 tutions and laws and rituals. But, even here, a living and con- 

 structive knowledge of the institutions of the League is less definite 

 and is often displaced by dubious modern interpretations. So it has 

 become increasingly difficult, indeed, to obtain from the variant 

 extant versions of laws, traditions, rituals, songs and institutions, 

 their most probable original form. 



The Onondaga tribes of New York State, dwelling 8 miles south- 

 ward from Syracuse, occupy the ancient seat of the Federal Council 

 of the League of the Iroquois. In the original structure of the 

 League, and still exercised by both the Canadian and the New York 

 federations, the Onondaga chiefs as a body exercised functions 

 approximating those of the presiding judge of a modern court sitting 

 without a jury, and had power to confirm or to refer back (but not to 

 veto) for constitutional reasons the decisions or votes of the Federal 

 Council. 



OSAGE TRIBAL RITES. OKLAHOMA 



In the spring of 1919 Mr. Francis LaFlesche, Ethnologist, spent 

 a month among the Osage Indians, gathering further information 

 concerning the ancient rites of that tribe and collected two rituals, 

 one from Wa-tse-mo"-i", pertaining to the origin of the people 

 of the black bear gens, and one from Mo"-zho°-a-ki-da of the Peace 

 gens of the Tsi'-zhu division, as to the origin of that people. 



The ritual obtained from Wa-tse-mo"-i" contains 582 lines, divided 

 into 29 sections and arranged in groups according to subjects. The 

 first group of five sections describes the descent of the people from 

 the sky to the earth. The second group of four sections tells of the 

 appeal of the people to certain water insects who promise help. The 

 third group of eight sections speak of the Great Elk who brought to 

 light four dififerent colored soils which he gave to the people to use 

 in this rite as symbols. The next group of a single section tells of the 

 wanderings of the people, of their meeting a man whom they learned 

 had descended from the stars and who gave to the people certain 

 sacred gentile names. Although they were warriors whose business 

 it was to destroy, they resolved to make the stranger their chief, 

 saying to one another : " There shall be in him no anger, no violence 

 and he shall be a man of peace." 



The fifth group of three sections speaks of the parts of the swan 

 that were dedicated for use as a war standard. From this sacred 

 bird were taken personal names. The sixth group of four sections 



