The principal monuments of the once powerful Iroquois are their myths and folklore, with the language in which they are embodied. As these monuments are fast crumbling away, through their contact with European civilization, the ethnologist must hasten his search among them in order to trace the history of their laws of mind and the records of their customs, ideas, laws, and beliefs. Most of these have been long forgotten by the people, who continue to repeat traditions as they have been handed down through their fathers and fathers' fathers, from generation to generation, for many centuries.
Contents:
Gods and Other Supernatural Beings
Pigmies
Practice of Sorcery
Mythological Explanation of Phenomena
Tales
Religion

Erminnie A. Smith (1836–1886) was a geologist and an anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology. She has been called the "first woman field ethnographer" and she was elected the first female member of the New York Academy of Sciences on November 5, 1877.