have rejected any serious alterations in their ancient forms. It seems
not unlikely that David of Schoharie--or whoever was the penman on this
occasion--may have submitted his work to his missionary teacher, and
that in deference to his suggestion a single interpolation of a
religious cast, to which no particular objection could be made, was
allowed to pass.

The word _Rawenniyo_, as is well known, is the term for God which
was adopted by the Catholic missionaries. It is, indeed, of
Huron-Iroquois origin, and may doubtless have been occasionally employed
from the earliest times as an epithet proper for a great divinity. Its
origin and precise meaning are explained in the Appendix, Note B. The
Catholic missionaries appropriated it as the special name of the Deity,
and its use in later times is probably to be regarded as an evidence of
Christian influence. That the sentence in which it occurs in the text is
probably an interpolation, is shown by the fact that the words which
precede this sentence are repeated, with a slight change, immediately
after it. Having interjected this pious expression, the writer seems to
have thought it necessary to resume the thread of the discourse by going
back to the phrase which had preceded it. It will be observed that the
religious sentiment proper to the Book of Rites appears to us confined
to expressions of reverence for the great departed, the founders of the
commonwealth. This circumstance, however should not be regarded as
indicating that the people were devoid of devotional feeling of another
kind. Their frequent "thanksgiving festivals" afford sufficient evidence
of the strength of this sentiment; but they apparently considered its
display out of place in their political acts.

15. _Nene karcnna_, "the song," or "hymn." The purport of this
composition is explained in the Introduction (_ante_,