42 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



cept to dual causes, of which the first is intellectual, while the hardly less essential 

 second cause is physiologic; e. </.. it may he shown conclusively that the decimal sys- 

 tem forming tin' l>asis of the arithmetic of certain southwestern tribes is essentially 

 indigenous and has grown up through successive generations from counting on the 

 fingers in certain definite ways. This relation between concepts and physiologic 

 structure is especially significant in its bearing on the development of primitive 

 mythology . 



Mrs. Stevenson was occupied during a part of the year in revising for the press 

 her report entitled "The Sia," which forms the leading paper of the twelfth annual 

 report of the Bureau, now in the hands of the printer. She was also engaged for 

 several months in the preparation of a memoir on the secret societies and ceremo- 

 nials of the Zufii Indians. Mrs. Stevenson's researches on these southwestern tribes 

 have not only resulted in important contributions to knowledge of the primitive 

 beliefs by which the daily life of these peoples was governed, but have also thrown 

 light on the migrations and ethnic relations of their ancestors. The monograph on 

 this subject, which is illustrated by numerous graphic representations, is approach- 

 ing completion. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



The work on bibliography of native American languages was continued by Mr. 

 James C. Pilling. Two numbers of the series of bibliographies were issued as 

 bulletins of the Bureau during the year, another was sent to press, aud a fourth* was 

 nearly completed in manuscript. The later proofs of the sixth of the series, which 

 relates to the Athapascan languages, were revised early in the year. The work 

 was subsequently issued as a bulletin of 138 pages, embracing 544 titular entries 

 witli 4 facsimile reproductions. Although the publication was not distributed 

 until spring of the present calendar year, it has already been favorably noticed in 

 scientific journals in this and other countries; and the critical reviews show that 

 the students of our native languages place this work by Mr. Pilling on the same 

 high plane accorded the previous volumes of the series. 



The bibliography of the Chinookau languages (including the Chinook jargon) 

 was sent to press in October and proof revision was finished in April. In the com- 

 pilation of this bibliography much attention was given to the origin and growtn of 

 the Chinook jargon, or "trade language,'' of the northwestern coast, which has 

 come to be an international dialect, affording the established means of communica- 

 tion between the whites and the several native tribes occupying the region between 

 the State of Washington and Alaska, whose languages are many and diverse. 

 While this bibliography (the seventh of the series) comprises but 94 pages and 

 includes only 270 titular entries, it is believed that it will prove no less valuable to 

 linguistic students than the earlier numbers, since it is substantially a record of a 

 dead language, there being but one man now living who fully understands the 

 tongue on which the linguistic relations of the family rest. The edition of this bul- 

 letin was delivered by the Public Printer in May. 



The manuscript of the bibliography of the Salishan languages was sent to press 

 in March, and proof revision is in progress. This work exceeds in volume the 

 Chinookau bibliography, and, like that, deals with the records of one of the highly 

 interesting group of native tongues of our Pacific region, which, though doomed 

 to early extinction, are among the mostiniportant sources of information concerning 

 the development of language. 



Toward the close of the year Mr. Pilling was occupied in preparing for the press 

 the bibliography of the Wakashan languages, the ninth number of the series, which 

 is now well advanced. 



The value of the several bibliographies has been greatly enhanced, and their prep- 

 aration has been materially facilitated through the cooperation of linguistic 

 students in different parte of the country. Special acknowledgments are due Mr. 

 Horatio Hale, the well-known philologist, aud Mr. J. K. Gill, author of a dictionary 



