l8o CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



Salish, Kiowa, 



Northern California, Pueblos, 



Iroquois, Shoshones. 



Superficial or fragmentary work has been done among the follow- 

 ing tribes : 



Pawnee, West Algonquin (except Arapaho), 



Lower Mississippi, Athapascan, 



Muscogee, Kutenay, 



South California, And other small tribes. 



All this work is urgent. At the present time the various tribes of 

 the Caddoan stock deserve special attention. They have never been 

 studied scientifically, and today they are rapidly decreasing in num- 

 bers, the total population being about two thousand two hundred. 

 To this stock belong the Pawnee, the Arikara, the Wichita, the 

 Caddo, and the Kichai, Taken collectively they form the least 

 known and most interesting large group of Indians in the United 

 States. Apart from the intrinsic merits of these tribes as subjects of 

 investigation, they occupy and have occupied a median position be- 

 tween the tribes of the Great Plains and those of the extreme south, 

 and hence form a most interesting connecting link. All the tribes 

 of the group have an extensive mythology and very elaborate cere- 

 monies, with rituals which are chanted and which for their value in 

 the study of primitive culture are unparalleled. Their material 

 culture was comparatively high, and, among other things, they 

 evolved two highly specialized forms of habitation, the Pawnee earth 

 lodge and the Wichita grass lodge, in the construction of which most 

 interesting ceremonies are performed. Because of the complexity 

 and multiplicity of their ceremonials, and especially on account of the 

 necessary expense involved, no investigator has hitherto devoted 

 himself exclusively to this group. The expense of ordinary work 

 of this nature is here more than doubled, because the many hundreds 

 of songs must be recorded on a phonograph and transcribed in both 

 words and music, and to secure this material requires an exceptional 

 interpreter, for all these rites are secret, and the interpreter must 

 not only be influential, but must be of the priesthood. Again, all 

 the rituals are regarded as personal property, and may not be trans- 

 ferred except on payment of goods or money. In addition to the 

 many ceremonies with elaborate rites, the Pawnee have also sacred 

 and secret bundles, which are only opened ceremonially when au 



