REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 49 
provisions of the law for the preservation of antiquities, to pass upon various 
applications for permits to explore among the antiquities of the public domain, 
and to furnish data needful in the selection of the archeological sites to be set 
aside as national monuments. In addition he was able to give some attention 
to carrying forward the systematic study of aboriginal technology and art, on 
which he has’ been engaged for several years, as occasion offered. 
At the beginning of the year Mrs. M. C. Stevenson, ethnologist, was in the 
Indian village of Taos, New Mexico, continuing her studies of the arts, . habits, 
customs, and language of this tribe begun during the previous year. Although 
the field was new and the traditional conservatism of the tribe made investiga- 
tion in certain directions difficult or impossible, much progress was made, and, 
' when the work is completed, results of exceptional value will doubtless have 
been obtained. 
In November Mrs. Stevenson visited Santa Clara pueblo for the purpose of 
making studies of the people and their culture for comparative purposes, and 
observations were made of the social customs and religious observances of the 
people. Afterwards, several days were spent in Santa Fé, examining the old 
Spanish records preserved in the archives of the Historical Society of New 
Mexico, with the view of learning something of the early relations of the local 
tribes with the Spanish invaders and with their Spanish-speaking neighbors of 
later times. Late in November Mrs. Stevenson visited the pueblo of Zufi, the 
site of her former extended researches, and spent some weeks in completing 
her studies on certain phases of the native ritual and worship, on religious sym- 
bolism as embodied in pictography and ceramic and textile decoration, and in 
the revision of her list of plants employed for food, medicine, and dyes. Numer- 
ous photographs and sketches of ceremonials and ceremonial objects were made. 
A number of changes were noted in the dramas and other ceremonies since her 
last visit, and Zuni, heretofore presenting at night the quiet somberness of an 
aboriginal village, has now, when the dusk falls, the appearance of an eastern 
town, with many lighted windows. Mrs. Stevenson notes that changes are 
creeping steadily into all the pueblos, Taos perhaps excepted, and is led to 
express the earnest hope that the work of investigating the town-building tribes 
of the Southwest be carried forward with all possible energy. 
On April 1 Mrs. Stevenson returned to the office, where, during the remainder 
of the year, she has been engaged in the preparation of reports on her field 
researches. . 
Dr. Cyrus Thomas, ethnologist, has been employed the greater portion of the 
year in assisting Mr. Hodge on the Handbook of American Indians, not only in 
the preparation of separate articles, but also in assisting the editor on certain 
lines of proof reading relating to omissions, uniformity in names, ete. Such 
time as could be spared from these duties was devoted to the preparation of a 
Catalogue of Books and Papers relating to the Hawaiian Islands. For this pur- 
pose the Congressional and other libraries in Washington were consulted and a 
short trip to Worcester and Boston, Massachusetts, was made for the purpose 
of examining the libraries of those cities, which are the chief depositories in the 
United States of the early publications of the missionaries in Hawaii. The 
number of titles so far obtained is about 2,000. Doctor Thomas assisted 
also with the official correspondence on subjects with which he is particularly 
familiar, his attainments as a student of ancient Mexican writings having 
proved of special value in the examination of certain manuscripts in the 
Cakchikel language submitted by the Librarian of the American Philosophical 
Society of Philadelphia. 
