NO. 30 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, [0,12 



43 



philological, collected there in 1908 and 1910. He now lias about 260 

 manuscript pages of text, besides a large vocabulary of this rapidly 

 dying language. 



In the fall Dr. Swanton visited the Alabama Indians again, made 

 further ethnological investigations, and recorded many pages of 

 texts in the Alabama and Koasati languages, besides correcting some 

 which bad been previously taken down. A short trip was also made 

 at this time to the Caddo Indians to determine the number of dialects 

 still spoken among them. It was learned that the only two still in 

 use are Xadako and Kadohadacho. which vary very little, although 



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Fig. 48. — West cabin, Chiaha busk ground. Photograph by Swanton. 



considerable is remembered of Natchitoches, and a number of Natchi- 

 toches words were recorded. In December be began recording 

 texts in the Hitchiti language, formerly spoken over most of southern 

 Georgia, but now represented by only 20 or 30 speakers among the 

 Creeks and Seminoles of Oklahoma, besides a few Seminoles still 

 in Florida. Among the Creek Indians proper, most of bis time was 

 devoted to an investigation of the ancient town and clan organiza- 

 tions, especially as those were represented in the annual " green corn 

 dance " or " busk." ( )f the 40 or 50 towns originally constituting 

 the Creek confederacy and observing this ceremony, [2 still carry 

 it out in some form or other, but it is scarcely more than a shadow. 

 Nevertheless, with the help of those old men who can remember the 

 ceremonials as they existed before they were broken up by the 



