52 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



quently literal translations of these texts were made, and the preparation of exjilaua- 

 tory notes and free English translations was begun and the lexic eltuiients were 

 extracted. 



Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt was occupied during the earlier part of the year in researches 

 concerning the social relations recorded in the Iroquois language and the literature 

 relating to the people. In the course of this work it was shown that the Independ- 

 ence of the tribe in local affairs was little if at all curtailed by the confederation of 

 the Five Nations, certain gentes being privileged from the beginning of the histori- 

 cal leagues (for there were undoubtedly several) to nominate lord-chiefs and vice- 

 chiefs to the league councils. Subsequently Mr. Hewitt made examination of the 

 data for the classihcation of the Waiilatpuan and Shaliaptian groups of languages. 

 Despite the paucity of the linguistic material, he found that the groups display 

 peculiarities apparently due rather to divergent growth than to original diversity, 

 this being exceptionally true of the position of the attributing or predicating word 

 in the word-sentences or compound stems. In the lexicon the >Shahaptian dialects 

 show apecitic superhcial differences from the Waiilatpuan group, but nevertheless a 

 large and im2)ortant number of stems pertaining to the former, which have the same 

 or cognate significance, accord substantially in sound or form with terms in the lat- 

 ter; there are, moreover, in many of the dialects striking proofs of the effects of dis- 

 cordant linguistic growth. The general result of the study was to prove that the 

 two groups of languages have had a common history in part; and this conclusion 

 has been provisionally accepted in the classihcation of linguistic material in the 

 Bureau vaults. Other important studies relating to the atlinities of the aboriginal 

 languages of northwestern America were successfully carried forward. Mr. Hewitt 

 also aided in the linguistic comparison of the Maya and Malayan terms collected by 

 Dr. Thomas. Some time was given also to the arrangement and transliteration of 

 the Tubar material collected by Dr. Carl Lumholtz in Mexico, with a view to publi- 

 cation. This collection, although not large, is of a special interest, since it was 

 obtained from the last three surviving representatives of the tribe who alone survive. 

 During the last months of the year Mr. Hewitt made a fruitful study of the so-called 

 irregular or anomalous verb in the Tuskarora or Mohawk dialects. 



lu connection with memoirs on the Menomoni Indians, already noted. Dr. Hoff- 

 man compiled a consideral)le vocabulary representing the language of this tribe. 



In addition to the Tubar material in part transliterated by ISIr. Hewitt, Dr. Carl 

 Lumholtz turned over to the Bureau the vocabularies collected from the 'rarahumar 

 and Tepehuan tribes occupying the mountainous portions of the state of Chihuahua, 

 in the Republic of Mexico. Several other valuable contributions to the linguistic 

 material of tlie Bureau were made during the year. Among these may be mentioned 

 a manuscript of more than a thousand pages representing the vocabulary and gram- 

 mar of the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho, collected by the late Miss S. L. McBeth and 

 kindly transmitted to the Bureau by her sister, Miss Kate C. McBeth. 



AIYTHOLOCiY. 



The myths and cognate beliefs of the American aborigines are of exceptional inter- 

 est, since they exemplify m many cases the intluence of environment on the minds 

 of the devotees, and in some cases, moreover, the myths indicate the migrations of 

 the peoples among Avhom they are found. Accordingly, the studies by Mrs. Steven- 

 son and Mr. dishing of the mythology of the Pueblo tribes, particularlj^ that of the 

 Zuni, are of utmost importance in American anthropology. 



Having completed his work in aiTanging the exhibits of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology at the World's Fair, Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing returned to Washing- 

 ton and resumed researches in mythology about the middle of September. Almost 

 continuously since that time he has, in conjunction with Mr. Stewart Culin, of the 

 University of Pennsylvania, whose attention has long been devoted to the games of 

 the Orient, carried forward a study of the origin of aboriginal games,, based on his 



