﻿39^ 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  STATE 
  MUSEUM 
  

  

  Iroquois 
  ceremonial 
  manuscripts 
  

  

  The 
  Iroquois 
  Book 
  of 
  Rites 
  contains 
  an 
  interesting 
  account 
  of 
  

   the 
  finding 
  of 
  the 
  manuscript 
  of 
  the 
  condoling 
  songs 
  by 
  Horatio 
  

   Hale, 
  its 
  learned 
  author. 
  He 
  had 
  heard 
  of 
  a 
  book 
  used 
  in 
  con- 
  

   nection 
  with 
  the 
  mourning 
  councils, 
  and 
  in 
  1879 
  two 
  copies 
  were 
  

   brought 
  to 
  him 
  by 
  two 
  principal 
  chiefs 
  of 
  the 
  Iroquois 
  in 
  Canada. 
  

   Other 
  books 
  had 
  been 
  printed 
  for 
  the 
  Mohawks 
  early 
  in 
  the 
  18th 
  

   century, 
  and 
  many 
  could 
  read 
  and 
  write 
  very 
  well. 
  They 
  sup- 
  

   posed 
  that 
  the 
  songs 
  and 
  speeches 
  used 
  in 
  the 
  condolence 
  were 
  

   written 
  down 
  in 
  New 
  York 
  by 
  a 
  Mohawk 
  chief 
  who 
  was 
  a 
  friend 
  

   of 
  Brant, 
  and 
  were 
  thus 
  faithfully 
  preserved. 
  Chief 
  John 
  " 
  Smoke 
  " 
  

   Johnson, 
  from 
  whom 
  Hale 
  had 
  his 
  first 
  copy, 
  made 
  it 
  in 
  183,2 
  at 
  

   the 
  request 
  of 
  an 
  old 
  chief. 
  The 
  latter 
  had 
  the 
  original 
  and 
  feared 
  

   it 
  might 
  be 
  lost, 
  as 
  indeed 
  soon 
  happened 
  in 
  a 
  fire. 
  

  

  Chief 
  John 
  Buck, 
  the 
  Onondaga 
  wampum 
  keeper, 
  had 
  the 
  other. 
  

   In 
  this 
  the 
  syllables 
  were 
  separated, 
  and 
  the 
  proper 
  names 
  had 
  

   Onondaga 
  forms. 
  Mr 
  Hale 
  said: 
  

  

  The 
  copy 
  was 
  evidently 
  not 
  made 
  from 
  that 
  of 
  Chief 
  Johnson, 
  as 
  

   it 
  supplies 
  some 
  omissions 
  in 
  that 
  copy. 
  On 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  it 
  

   omits 
  some 
  matters, 
  and, 
  in 
  particular, 
  nearly 
  all 
  the 
  adjurations 
  

   and 
  descriptive 
  epithets 
  which 
  form 
  the 
  closing 
  litany 
  accompanying 
  

   the 
  list 
  of 
  hereditary 
  councilors. 
  The 
  copy 
  appears, 
  from 
  a 
  memo- 
  

   randum 
  written 
  in 
  it, 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  made 
  by 
  one 
  John 
  Green 
  who, 
  it 
  

   seems, 
  was 
  formerly 
  a 
  pupil 
  of 
  the 
  Mohawk 
  Institute 
  at 
  Brantford. 
  

   It 
  bears 
  the 
  date 
  of 
  November, 
  1874. 
  Hale, 
  p. 
  43 
  

  

  The 
  translation 
  was 
  made 
  by 
  Chief 
  J. 
  S. 
  Johnson 
  and 
  his 
  son, 
  

   and 
  revised 
  by 
  the 
  Rev. 
  Isaac 
  Bearfoot. 
  This 
  does 
  not 
  include 
  

   what 
  Mr 
  Hale 
  called 
  The 
  Book 
  of 
  the 
  Younger 
  Nations, 
  informa- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  which 
  he 
  obtained 
  at 
  Onondaga, 
  N. 
  Y. 
  in 
  1875. 
  At 
  that 
  

   time 
  he 
  had 
  a 
  list 
  of 
  the 
  principal 
  chiefs 
  in 
  the 
  Onondaga 
  dialect 
  

   from 
  Daniel 
  La 
  Fort, 
  and 
  also 
  a 
  copy 
  of 
  the 
  condoling 
  song 
  in 
  the 
  

   same 
  language. 
  La 
  Fort 
  read 
  from 
  a 
  small 
  book 
  what 
  Mr 
  Hale 
  

   thought 
  were 
  personal 
  notes, 
  but 
  which 
  afterward 
  seemed 
  to 
  

   him 
  of 
  more 
  value. 
  To 
  make 
  sure, 
  he 
  went 
  to 
  the 
  Onondaga 
  

   Reservation 
  again 
  in 
  1880, 
  and 
  found 
  that 
  this 
  was 
  a 
  valuable 
  

   addition 
  to 
  the 
  Mohawk 
  book. 
  La 
  Fort 
  had 
  copied 
  this 
  from 
  his 
  

   father's 
  manuscript, 
  which 
  was 
  peculiar 
  in 
  spelling, 
  but 
  John 
  Buck 
  

   said 
  the 
  speeches 
  are 
  precisely 
  like 
  those 
  used 
  in 
  Canada, 
  and 
  the 
  

   writer 
  himself 
  has 
  heard 
  them 
  in 
  condolences 
  in 
  New 
  York. 
  La 
  

  

  