Part 2

of the Handbook of American Indians, Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, ethnologist, pursued the study of the history of the tribes formerly dwelling in the Susquehanna and upper Ohio valleys. Progress in these researches was interrupted by the necessity of assigning him to the editorial revision and annotation of a collection of about 120 legends, traditions, and myths of the Seneca Indians, recorded in 1884 and 1885 by the late Jeremiah Curtin. At the close of the year this work was far advanced, only about 150 pages of a total of 1,400 pages remaining to be treated. As opportunity afforded, Mr. Hewitt also resumed the preparation of his sketch of the grammar of the Iroquois for incorporation in the Handbook of American Indian Languages.

As in previous years, Mr. Hewitt prepared and collected data for replies to numerous correspondents requesting special information,

## particularly in regard to the Iroquois and Algonquian tribes. Mr.

Hewitt also had charge of the important collection of 1,716 manuscripts of the bureau, cataloguing new accessions and keeping a record of those withdrawn in the progress of the bureau’s researches. During the year, 378 manuscripts were thus made use of by the members of the bureau and its collaborators. Exclusive of the numerous manuscripts prepared by the staff of the bureau and by those in collaboration with it, referred to in this report, 12 items were added during the year. These pertain to the Pawnee, Chippewa, Zuñi, and Tewa tribes, and relate to music, sociology, economics, and linguistics.

The beginning of the fiscal year found Dr. Truman Michelson, ethnologist, conducting ethnological and linguistic investigations among the Piegan Indians of Montana, whence he proceeded to the Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapaho, thence to the Menominee of Wisconsin, and finally to the Micmac of Restigouche, Canada—all Algonquian tribes, the need of a more definite linguistic classification of which has long been felt. Doctor Michelson returned to Washington at the close of November and immediately commenced the elaboration of his field notes, one of the results of which is a manuscript bearing the title “A Linguistic Classification of the Algonquian Tribes,” submitted for publication in the Twenty-eighth Annual Report. Also in connection with his Algonquian work Doctor Michelson devoted attention to the further revision of the material pertaining to the Fox grammar, by the late Dr. William Jones, the outline of which is incorporated in the Handbook of American Indian Languages. During the winter Doctor Michelson took advantage of the presence in Washington of a deputation of Chippewa Indians from White Earth, Minnesota, by enlisting their services in gaining an insight into the social organization of that tribe and also in adding to the bureau’s accumulation of Chippewa linguistic data. Toward the close of June, 1911, Doctor Michelson proceeded to the Sauk and Fox Reservation in Iowa for the purpose of continuing his study of that Algonquian group.

The months of July and August and half of September, 1910, were spent by Dr. Paul Radin, ethnologist, among the Winnebago Indians of Nebraska and Wisconsin, his efforts being devoted to a continuation of his studies of the culture of those people, with special reference to their ceremonial and social organization and their general social customs. Part of the time was devoted to a study of the Winnebago material culture, but little progress was made in this direction, as few objects of aboriginal origin are now possessed by these people, consequently the study must be completed by examination of their objects preserved in museums and private collections. A beginning in this direction was made by Doctor Radin during the latter half of September and in October at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. During the remainder of the fiscal year Doctor Radin was engaged in arranging the ethnological material gathered by him during the several years he has devoted to the Winnebago tribe, and in the preparation of a monograph on the Medicine ceremony of the Winnebago and a memoir on the ethnology of the Winnebago tribe in general. In June, 1911, he again took the field in Wisconsin for the purpose of obtaining the data necessary to complete the tribal monograph. Both these manuscripts, it is expected, will be finished by the close of the present calendar year.

By arrangement with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs the bureau was fortunate in enlisting the services of Mr. Francis La Flesche, who has been frequently mentioned in the annual reports of the bureau in connection with his studies, jointly with Miss Alice C. Fletcher, of the ethnology of the Omaha tribe of the Siouan family. Having been assigned the task of making a comparative study of the Osage tribe of the same family, Mr. La Flesche proceeded to their reservation in Oklahoma in September. The older Osage men, like the older Indians generally, are very conservative, and time and tact were necessary to obtain such standing in the tribe as would enable him to establish friendly relations with those to whom it was necessary to look for trustworthy information. Although the Osage language is similar to that of the Omaha, Mr. La Flesche’s native tongue, there are many words and phrases that sound alike but are used in different senses by the two tribes. Having practically mastered the language, Mr. La Flesche was prepared to devote several months to what is known as the Noⁿʹhoⁿzhiⁿga Ieʹta, the general term applied to a complex series of ceremonies which partake of the nature of degrees, but are not, strictly speaking, successive steps, although each one is linked to the other in a general sequence. While at the present stage of the investigation it would be premature to make a definite statement as to the full meaning and interrelation of these Osage ceremonies, there appear to be seven divisions of the Noⁿʹhoⁿzhiⁿga Ieʹta, the names, functions, and sequence of which have been learned, but whether the sequence thus far noted is always maintained remains to be determined. From Saucy Calf, one of the three surviving Osage regarded as past masters in these ceremonies, phonographic records of the first of the ceremonies, the Waxoʹbe-awathoⁿ, have been made in its entirety, consisting of 80 songs with words and music and 7 prayers. All these have been transcribed and in part translated into English, comprising a manuscript exceeding 300 pages. In order to discuss with the Osage the meaning of these rituals, Mr. La Flesche found it necessary to commit them to memory, as reading from the manuscript disconcerted the old seer. At Saucy Calf’s invitation Mr. La Flesche witnessed in the autumn, at Grayhorse, a performance of the ceremony of the Waxoʹbe-awathoⁿ, the recitation of the rituals of which requires one day, part of a night, and more than half of the following day. It is Mr. La Flesche’s purpose to record, if possible, the rituals of the remaining six divisions of the Noⁿʹhoⁿzhiⁿga Ieʹta. He has already obtained a paraphrase of the seventh ceremony (the Nikʼinoⁿkʼoⁿ), and hopes soon to procure a phonographic record of all the rituals pertaining thereto.

In connection with his ethnological work Mr. La Flesche has been so fortunate as to obtain for the National Museum four of the waxoʹbe, or sacred packs, each of which formed a part of the paraphernalia of the Noⁿʹhoⁿzhiⁿga Ieʹta, as well as a waxoʹbe-toⁿʹga, the great waxoʹbe which contains the instruments for tattooing. Only those Osage are tattooed who have performed certain acts prescribed in the rites of the Noⁿʹhoⁿzhiⁿga Ieʹta. The rites of the tattooing ceremony are yet to be recorded and elucidated. While the waxoʹbe is the most sacred of the articles that form the paraphernalia of the Noⁿʹhoⁿzhiⁿga Ieʹta rites, it is not complete in itself; other things are indispensable to their performance, and it is hoped that these may be procured at some future time.

While not recorded as one of the ceremonial divisions of the Noⁿʹhoⁿzhiⁿga Ieʹta, there is a ceremony so closely connected with it that it might well be regarded as a part thereof; that is the Washaʹbeathiⁿ watsi, or the dance of the standards. The introductory part of this ceremony is called Akixage, or weeping over one another in mutual sympathy by the members of the two great divisions of the tribe. There is no regular time for the performance of the Washaʹbeathiⁿ ceremony. It is given only when a member of the tribe loses by death some specially loved and favored relative and seeks a ceremonial expression of sympathy from the entire tribe. It is the intention to procure the songs and rituals of this ceremony, and specimens of the standards employed in its performance.

Altogether Mr. La Flesche has made excellent progress in his study of the Osage people, and the results are already shedding light on the organization and the origin and function of the ceremonies of this important tribe.

SPECIAL RESEARCHES

The special researches of the bureau in the field of linguistics were conducted by Dr. Franz Boas, honorary philologist, one of the immediate and tangible results of which was the publication of