It gives the
speeches, songs and ceremonies which were rehearsed when a chief died
and his successor was appointed. The fundamental laws of the League, a
list of their ancient towns, and the names of the chiefs who composed
their first council, are also comprised in the work. It may be said to
carry the authentic history of Northern America back to a period fifty
years earlier than the era of Columbus. The introductory essay treats of
the ethnology and history of the Huron-Iroquois League and its founders,
the origin of the Book of Rites, the composition of the Federal Council,
the clan system, the laws of the League, and the Iroquois character,
public policy, and language.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS AND OF EMINENT WRITERS.
"This work may be said to open a field of Indian research new to
ethnologists. ... These precious relics of antiquity are concise in
their wording, and full of meaning. ... The additions made by Mr. Hall
are almost as valuable as the texts themselves." --_The Nation_ New
York, September 13, 1883.
"The reputation of the author, added to this fascinating title, will
insure its favorable reception, not only by ethnologists, but also, the
reading public. ... A remarkable discovery, and indisputably of great
ethnological value.
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