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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



gestion. The manuscript in question is Cornplanter's own translation 

 of the '' New Religion " of the Six Nations. Cornplanter is one 

 of the five or six " ha-djes-ta-dje " who are familiar with the teach- 

 ings of the prophet Handsome Lake, or Ga-nio-daio as he is known 

 to the Seneca. The changes made were certain corrections of names 

 and small additions to the text. 



The second lengthy manuscript is one compiled by the Archeologist 

 from the various versions of the Iroquois Ga-ya-nes-sha-go-wa, or 

 " Great Binding Law." The Iroquois refer to this as " the consti- 

 tution " and indeed both Morgan and Hall refer to it by this term. 



^B. 



Seneca "wedding" bread. Collected 19 lo 



It purports to be the laws given by Dekanawideh, the Iroquois 

 culture hero, and embraces also a narrative of the lives of both 

 Hai-yent-wa-tha (Hiawatha) and Dekanawideh. Its special interest 

 lies in the fact that it is an attempt of the Iroquois themselves to 

 explain their own social system. It is therefore an invaluable guide 

 to many interesting branches of Iroquois ethnology. Many of the 

 facts contained in this document are familiar to students, but that 

 they formed a part of a definite system of law will perhaps be new. 

 The Iroquois called this code the Gayeneshagowa, or the Immutable 

 Law of the Great Peace. The term Great Peace refers to the 

 Iroquois government. 



Originally the Five Nations of Iroquois were similar to all other 

 Indian tribes or bands — independent bodies with similar dialects 

 and similar customs but with no political coherence. Each man and 

 each tribe to itself, was the rule. Often the individual nations 

 warred with one another, and with external enemies pressing them 



