I04 



SMITHSOXIAX MISCEIJ.AXEOUS C( )LLI-:CTI()XS 



\()L. 70 



Since nearly all the traditions recorded in these texts were trans- 

 mitted by memory for about 350 years it was inevitable that some 

 of the essentially important details of the structure of the lea.^ue 

 and of its ori:;"anic instittitions should not have been remembered 

 with the same fidelity b\' different ])ersons. and so dift'erences of 

 opinion and marked variation in statement are not infrequently en- 

 countered concerning' the same subject-matter. The problem for 



Fig. 113. — Baby Cradle Sash (Chippewa). 



the student, then, is to determine by a sufficiently broad survey of 

 dift'ering traditions what the most probable facts were upon which 

 these confiicting' views and statements were originally based. The 

 motives of the founders are not at all times remembered. As the 

 institutions of the league are slowly becoming obsolete in the face 

 of assimilated European culture and ci\ilization this reconstructive 

 work is one of great difficultv. 



