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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 60 



internal troubles incident to our Civil War, it has been possible to add 

 a great deal to our knowledge of the ancient Creek confederacy. 



Studies Among the Osage Indians by Mr. Francis La Flesche 



During the year 1912 Mr. Francis La Flesche continued his eth- 

 nological studies among the ( )sage Indians, and his search for articles 

 illustrative of their past life, for preservation by the Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



Fig. 4<j. — Sacred Osage pack. Photograph by Bureau of American Ethnology. 



Before contact with the white race, the Osage Indians maintained 

 a tribal organization, and the story of the means agreed upon for its 

 conservation has been transmitted in rituals, songs, and ceremonies, 

 and in certain articles consecrated for use in tribal rites. These 

 rituals, songs, and dramatic acts bad to be kept in their original 

 sequence without variation, and a ceremony frequently requires from 

 [8 to 20 hours of continuous effort on the part of the officiating 

 priest. 



