REPORT OF THE SECRETARY . 71 



soned it was very hard to cut. The chief cut a branch from a 

 small tree and carried it with him when he and Mr. La Flesche 

 returned to the house. The chief whittled off some of the bark 

 from the branch and dipped the shavings in a glass of water and 

 the water quickly became blue like indigo. Mr. Paul C. Standley 

 identified this tree as the blue ash, or Fraxinus quadrangulata. 



SPECIAL RESEARCHES 



The following manuscripts of Indian music have been purchased 

 during the fiscal year from Miss Frances Densmore : " War, wed- 

 ding, and social songs of the Makah Indians," " Songs connected 

 with Makah feasts and dances," " Music and customs of the Tule 

 Indians of Panama," " Songs and instrumental music of the Tule 

 Indians of Panama," " Songs for children and material culture 

 of the Makah Indians," and 17 mathematical groups analyses of 

 167 Papago songs, according to the method of such analyses in 

 previous work. This material (apart from the group analyses) 

 comprises 150 pages of text, numerous photographic illustrations, 

 and the transcriptions of 69 songs, together with the original phono- 

 graph records and descriptive and tabulated analyses of individual 

 songs. The last named are the analyses from which the mathe- 

 matical analyses are made, these showing the peculiarities of the 

 songs of an entire tribe with results expressed in percentages. 

 These in turn form the basis for comparative tables, which show 

 the characteristics of the music of different tribes. Such tables 

 of comparison in " INIandan and Hidatsa Music " comprise 820 songs 

 collected among six tribes, and material awaiting publication will 

 add more than 500 songs to this number, including songs of widely 

 separated tribes. It seems possible that these tables may show 

 a connection between the physical environment of the Indians and 

 the form assumed hj their songs, as interesting contrasts appear 

 in the songs of different tribes. 



The final paper on the Makah Indians included a description of the 

 uses of 26 plants in food, medicine, and dye. Specimens of the 

 plants had been obtained on the reservation, and their botanical 

 identification was made by Mr. Paul C. Standley, of the United 

 States National Museum. The Makah were head hunters and a 

 detailed account of their war customs was presented. The caste 

 system prevailed in former days and families of the upper class had 

 wealth and leisure. The wedding customs were marked by festivity 

 and by physical contests, the songs of which were submitted. 



The presence in Washington of a group of Tule Indians from the 

 Province of Colon, Panama, made possible a study of forms of primi- 



