50 AXXTTATi REPORT SATTTHSOXTAX TNSTTTUTIOX, 10 4 2 



America. Tliis iiiaiiuscript has not been submitted for publication as, 

 owin^'to its size, there is little likelihood ol' its being printed in tlienear 

 future. A brief paper was prepared on The Evolution of Nations, 

 and this was published in the series of War Background Studies of 

 tlie Smithsonian Institution. 



Dr. Swanton has also continued to serve as the representative of 

 the Institution on the United States Board of Geographical Names. 



Dr. John P. Harrington, ethnologist, conducted field work during 

 the year on two problems involving linguistic studies of Aleut, the 

 language of the islands between Asia and America, and of Athapascan, 

 the language of the northern Rockies, of a large part of the Paciiic 

 coast, and of the southern deserts. He left Washington in August 

 1941 to visit the Aleutian Islands, where he was fortunate enough to 

 secure the services of Ivan Yatchmeneff, son of the Unalaska chief. 

 The Aleuts consist of three divisions, popularly known as Unalas- 

 kans, Atkans, and Attuans, but all of them are under the Unalaska 

 chief. Working on St, Paul Island, famous as the breeding place of 

 the fur seal, and elsewhere, he made a complete study of the sounds 

 and grammar of the language, with the result that it proved to be a 

 penetrant from the American side, a typically American language of 

 eastern origin, which has penetrated westward never quite to cross the 

 Aleutian Chain. The Unalaska dialect is related to and undoubtedly 

 derived from the language of the Alaska peninsula. The fact that the 

 Chain was occupied by an American language is important because 

 of its possible fundamental relationship to the Athapascan stock of 

 inland Alaska. 



A byproduct of the field studies was the obtaining of a probable 

 etymology of the name "Aleut'' which differs from those previously 

 offered by other investigators. The name is still pronounced with 

 three syllables in Russian, as Al-e-ut, and is the same as the tribal 

 name "Aglimyut," in modern usage applied to a Bristol Bay tribe. 

 The name of the high hill on St. George Island also omits the interior 

 m, just as it is omitted in the word "Aleut." Early Russian usage 

 took over the name with inclusive application, which later became 

 crystallized into application to speakers of the Aleut language alone, 

 although the Kodiak Islanders are still spoken of in Russian and 

 Aleut as the Kodiak Aleuts, even at the present day. 



Following the Aleutian work. Dr. Harrington proceeded to British 

 Columbia, where he undertook studies of the relationship of Navaho 

 and Apache with the Athapascan stock of the northernmost Rocky 

 Mountains. This relationship was first reported by Horatio Hale 

 and by AVilliam Turner. In British Columbia Dr. Harrington recov- 

 ered traditions that the Chilcotin language had formerly occupied 

 the Nicola Valley, and was able to obtain a large number of Chilcotin 

 words in that region, handed down in individual families. Following 



