62 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



were hostile to them, and also the formation of a form of govern- 

 ment among themselves. Ever since the birth of the league this 

 government has existed with but very slight modifications. 



The student of ethnology may find something which may be of 

 interest to him in this record, compiled as it is by the elder cere- 

 monial chiefs who are now am'ong those who are ruling the people 

 of the Six Nations as chiefs or lords, under the old regime of 

 dynastical lords in perpetuation of that system of government by 

 hereditary succession as it was constituted by Dekanahwideh and 

 his associates at the time of the formation of the League of the 

 Iroquois. 



This account is not intended to be a concise history of this inter- 

 esting people, but simply a record of those interesting traditions 

 which have been for centuries handed down from father to son in 

 connection with the formation of the league. 



There is no doubt in the minds of the writers of this preface 

 that many of the ancient traditions of the Six Nations have become 

 much modified, and some have been long relegated to oblivion owing 

 to the fact that in the earlier history of these peoples there were for 

 a long time no members of the various nations capable of rendering 

 these traditions in writing and thus preserving them intact to their 

 posterity. 



It is a noteworthy fact that the League of the Five Nations (now 

 known as the Six Nations) as constituted centuries ago by De- 

 kanahwideh and his associates, has been followed in accordance 

 with the rules of the confederacy as laid down by this founder of 

 the league, and that the installation of the lords (chiefs) as rulers 

 of the people as laid down in these unwritten rules hundreds of 

 years ago is still strictly observed and adhered to by the chiefs of 

 the Six Nations and their people. 



With reference to the origin or birth, character and doings of 

 Dekanahwideh as herein chronicled, it will be observed that they 

 present an analogy or similarity to Hebrew biblical history and 

 teachings. This is portrayed strongly in the narration of the 

 birth of Dekanahwideh and also in certain extraordinary powers 

 which he is attributed to have possessed. 



There is little doubt that some of this influence was brought 

 about as a result of the labors and teachings of the Jesuit fathers 

 among them. In the early discovery of the Five Nations the 

 Jesuit fathers made an effort to christianize them. 



These precepts as taught and inculcated in the minds of the peo- 

 ple by these missionaries have been assimilated to some extent and 



