REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. ()7 



inliiibited i»iicblos, were added to those alreiidy in the possession of tlie 

 JBureiiu. Tlie methods of surveying followed in previous years were 

 continued in this. The plans, as a rule, are drawn to a scale of L'O leet 

 to 1 inch, and the drawing is finished in the held. The topography is 

 in all cases indicated by contour lines of 5-foot intervals, sketched upon 

 a basis ot a number of points determined with a level. The ground plan 

 was usually drawn over a number of points and lines, which were locate«l 

 with an instrument, and the direction of all the walls was determined 

 by a compass, in order to detect any irregularities. It was found that 

 the regularity and symmetry of plan which characterizes many pub- 

 lished groun<l i>lans of ruins in the southwest — notably those of the 

 Chaco ruins — are not justified by the facts exhibited by the ruins them- 

 selves, though upon cursory examination, and even upon preliminary 

 survey, the ground plans of many of these ruins are apparently sym 

 metric. The plans obtained will be published in articles now being 

 prepared. 



Mr. A. M. Stephen was engaged during half of the fiscal year in col- 

 lecting traditions and other matter from the Tusayan villages and 

 among the Navajos. lie has transmitted a number of valuable short 

 papers on these topics and also on the house-lore of the Moki Indians, 

 and has furnished descriptions and drawings of the "Kisis" or rude 

 temporary shelters of the Moki, comparing these with the primitive 

 structures of the Navajos. 



The publications of Henry R. Schoolcraft, issued in 1853, upon the 

 pictographs of the Ojibwa, give the imi)ression that they were nearly 

 as far advanced in hieroglyphic writing as were the Egy[)tiaiis imme- 

 diately before their i)ictorial representations had become syllabic. 

 Doubts had been entertained of the accuracy of this account which it 

 was considered to be the duty of the Bureau of Ethnology to resolve; 

 therefore at the beginning of the fiscal year Col. Garrick INIallery and 

 Dr. W. J. Iloffnum were directe<l to proceed to Indian reservations in 

 Minnesota and Wisconsin and learn whatever remained accessibk^ on 

 the subject. 



Dr. Hoffman proceeded to the White Earth and Ked Lake Reserva- 

 tions, IMinnesota, and renuiined for three months, nudving the required re 

 searches among the Ojibwa. lie found that the most important birch- 

 bark records are those relating to the Ojibwa cosmogony, the institu- 

 tion of the Midewin or Grand Medicine Society (in which is preserved 

 all that pertains to the supposed sacred mission of the Shaman), ami 

 the songs used in connection with the ritual and the initiation of candi- 

 dates into that society. 



The pictographic charts are, as a rule, in the possession of the Midc 

 or Grand Medicine Man, though records relating to liuntiug and per- 

 sonal exploits, as well as directions for killing game, gathering fruits, 

 and making journeys, and even personal letters, are made byollHi 

 members of the tribe who possess more than ordinary intelligence. 



