Il6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



word. Some of the rituals, moreover, contain archaic words and 

 expressions, and even entire sentences are not understood by the 

 singers. 



Each society has a legend by which its origin and peculiar rites 

 are explained. Most of these legends portray the founder of the 

 society as a lost hunter, an outcast orphan, or a venturesome youth 

 curious to know what was farther on. The founder got into strange 

 complications, saw strange or familiar animals engaged in their rites, 

 was discovered, forgiven, adopted, kept a captive, and finally, after 

 long study and many warnings, was sent back to his people to teach 

 them the secrets of the animals and how their favor could be 

 obtained. The secrets were to be preserved by the society which the 

 hero was to found. ^ There are some variations of this abstract, but 

 it covers the general features of most of the legends. 



The study of the societies was commenced by the writer in 1902, 

 and during the years 1905-6 an almost uninterrupted study was 

 made for the New York State Education Department, and the 

 results deposited in the State Library. Since that time the research 

 has been continued for the Xew York State Museum. Paraphernalia 

 have been collected, phonograph records have been made of many 

 of the songs and ceremonial speeches, texts have been recorded and 

 translated, legends have been gathered, and some music has already 

 been transcribed. There still remains an enormous amount of work 

 to be done, and it is greatly to be regretted that a multiplicity of 

 duties bars the way for as speedy progress in this work as might be 

 desirable, especially since many of the informants are old people and 

 in ill health. 



A brief outline of the various societies is presented in this paper. 

 It is impossible for the sake of brevity to present a fair compend 

 or even a systematic outline. The main features of the less known 

 organizations and some neglected facts of the few that are better 

 known are mentioned, it being hoped that even such statements 

 may be useful to students of ethnology. The list follows.^ 



NIGAXEGA''A' OA' NO", OR XE'' HOXO''TCIXO'' GA. THE LITTLE WATER 



COMPANY 



This society is perhaps the best organized of all the Seneca folk- 

 societies. It holds four meetings each year, but only on three 

 occasions is the night song, Ganoda, chanted. To describe ade- 



1 Myths and Legends of the Iroquois, N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 125, p. 176. 



2 A description of some of these societies was prepared for incorporation 

 in the Fifth Annual Report of the Director of the State Museum, 1909. 



^^ 



