50 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



triues aud beliefs of the pagan Iroquois were recorded ; plaut and auimal names were 

 collected ; many religions aud gentile songs were secured, and accounts of the prin- 

 cipal Iroquoian "medicines" in the vernacular were obtained. A Wyandot vocabu- 

 lary was also recorded. 



Mrs. T. E. Stevenson left Washington in March, 1890, to study the Sia, Jemez, aud 

 Zuui Indians. She made Sia her first point of investigation, and found so much of 

 ethnologic interest in this Pueblo that she continued her work there to the end of the 

 fiscal year engaged in making a vocabulary and studying the habits, customs, mythol- 

 ogy, and medicine practices of these people. She has been admitted to the cere- 

 monials of the secret societies and has made detailed accounts of them, the altars 

 being photographed by Miss M. S. Clark, who accompanied her. Her investigations 

 so far have resulted in a clear exposition of the religion of the people. 



OFFICE WORK. 



The Director was engaged during the year, when his other duties would permit, in 

 the preparation of a work on the characteristics of Indian languages. 



Col. Garrick Mallery, U. S. Army, was occupied in continued study of sign language 

 and pictograjihy with the collection and collation of additional material obtained by 

 personal investigation, by corresj)oudence, and bj' the examination of authorities. 

 This work was performed with special reference to the preparation lor early publica- 

 tion of a monograph on each of those subjects, that on pictography to be first i)re- 

 sented. The re-arrangement aud revision of material already published in the pre- 

 liminary papers on the sign language and on the pictographs of the North American 

 Indians which respectively appeared in the first and fourth annual reports of this 

 Bureau, and the insertion of matter obtained later bj^ exploration and research, have 

 been conjoined with discussion and comparison. By this treatment it is hoped that 

 the monographs on sign language aud pictography, having as their text the attain- 

 ments of the North American Indians in those directions, may contribute to the 

 understanding of similar exhibitions of evanescent and durable thought-writing, 

 v^'hether still emjiloyed in other parts of the world or now only found iu records of 

 material remains. 



During the fiscal year Mr. H. W. Henshaw was engaged, in addition to his admin- 

 istrative duties, iu assisting the Director in the final preparMion of the linguistic 

 map of North America north of Mexico, and the accompanying report, which is now 

 completed and in the hands of the printer. He also began the final revision for the 

 printer of his dictionary of Indian tribal names. 



Rev. J. Owen Dorsey completed his editorial work in connection with the publica- 

 tion of Riggs' Dakota-English Dictionary. He wrote articles on the following sub- 

 jects: Measures and valuing ; The Dha-du-ghe Society of the Ponka tribe ; Omaha 

 dwellings, furniture, and implements; Omaha clothing and personal ornaments; 

 Ponka and Omaha songs; The places of gentes in Siouan camping circles; Winne- 

 bago folklore notes; Teton folklore; Omaha folklore; The gentile system of the 

 Siletz tribes; and a Dakota's account of the sun-dance. He revised some of his 

 Omaha and Ponka genealogical tables and began the arrangement of Kansa tables of 

 a similar character. He continued the elaboration of his monograph on Indian per- 

 sonal names, and completed the following lists iu which the Indian names precede 

 their English meanings: Winnebago, 383 names; Iowa, Oto, aud Missouri, 5",J0 ; 

 Kwapa, 15 ; and Knnsa, 604. 



Dr. Dorsey finished the preparation of his texts for Contributions to North Ameri- 

 can Ethnologj', Vol. 6, The (iJegiha Language. Part ir. Additional myths, storie.s, 

 and letters, and corrected proof for the volume as far as page 651. He prepared a 

 manuscript of other Omaha ami Ponka letters, to be published as a bulletin. He 

 began an article entitled " A study of Siouan cults," for which over forty colored 

 illustrations were i^repared by Indians, under his direction; and of this article he 



