22 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



In May, 1925, Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt left Washington for Brantford, 

 Canada, to resume his researches among the six nations, or tribes, 

 of the Iroquois. With the aid of the two best Mohawk informants 

 available, Mr. Hewitt made a free English translation of one of the 

 most important of the ancient rituals, and took up the literary 

 interpretation, revision, and textual criticism of previously recorded 

 voluminous Iroquoian texts. An interesting resume of this work is 

 presented in the report of the chief of the bureau which forms 

 Appendix 4 of this report. Mr. Hewitt also visited the Chippewa 

 of Garden River, Canada, and the Seneca in Missouri and Oklahoma. 



During the year, Mr. Francis La Flesche completed his paper on 

 two versions of the child-naming rite of the Osage Tribe. In May, 

 Mr. La Flesche visited the Osages and remained through June work- 

 ing at the laborious task of properly recording the gentile personal 

 names used by the full-blood members of the tribe and by some of 

 the mixed bloods. Mr. J. George Wright, of the Osage Agency, 

 cooperated in this work by giving Mr. La Flesche access to the 

 records of his office. Mr. La Flesche collected during his stay in the 

 region some interesting plants used as food or medicine among the 

 Indians. 



Miss Frances Densmore continued her special research on the 

 music of the Indians during the past year, resulting in the prepara- 

 tion of five manuscripts comprising transcriptions of 69 songs, to- 

 gether with the original phonograph records and analyses of the 

 songs, which were purchased by the bureau for future publication. 

 Miss Densmore's manuscripts included also one on the uses by the 

 Makah Indians of 26 plants in food, medicine, and dyes. She took 

 advantage of the presence in Washington of the group of Tule In- 

 dians, mentioned before in connection with Mr. Harrington's study 

 of their language, to make a study of their music. Their favorite 

 musical instrument Avas found to be the " pan pipe " of reeds, and 

 they also used another reed instrument known as the " mouth flute " 

 that had not before been observed in primitive music. 



The publications of the bureau issued during the year consisted of 

 two reports and one bulletin. Three other reports were in press 

 at the close of the year. 7,354 copies of the publications of the 

 bureau were distributed during the year. 



INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES 



The total number of packages handled by the exchange service 

 during the year was 468,731, weighing 506,164 pounds, an increase 

 in the number of packages over last year of 8,073 and a decrease in 

 weight of 60,943 pounds, due to the smaller size of the packages of 

 publications received for transmission through the service. 



