REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 53 
As opportunity offered, Mr. Hewitt continued to work on a sketch 
of the Iroquois language, and he has now in hand about 75 pages of 
manuscript, in addition to a considerable body of notes and diagrams 
for incorporation into final form. 
Mr. Hewitt also made a week’s study of the voluminous manu- 
script “ Dictionary of Words that have been Made Known in or 
Introduced into English from the Indians of North, Central, and 
South America,’ compiled by the late William R. Gerard, with a 
view of ascertaining its value for publication by the bureau. This 
examination was made difficult by the fact that the compiler of the 
dictionary had access to many works which were not available for 
Mr. Hewitt. 
Unfortunately the work summarized above was often interrupted, 
owing to the need of frequently calling on Mr. Hewitt for the prepa- 
ration of data for replies to correspondents, whose inquiries pertained 
to linguistic, historical, sociological, and technical matters. In con- 
nection with this work there were prepared 110 letters, rarely ex- 
ceeding a page in length, although some occupied several pages and 
required considerable study and research in gathering the needed 
data for reply. 
During the year Mr. Francis La Flesche, ethnologist, recorded the 
rituals and accompanying songs of five additional Osage ceremonies, 
known as Wawatho", Wadéka .Weko, Wazhitgao, Zhitgizhitga 
Zhazhe Thadse, and Wéxthexthe. Of these the WAwatho" is com- 
plete; the record fills about 150 pages, including songs, diagrams, 
and illustrations. This ceremony, which is of religious significance 
and is reverenced by all the people, has been obsolete for about 20 
years, and there now remain only two men in the tribe who remem- 
ber it in most of its details. It was a peace ceremony that held an 
important place in the great tribal rites of the Osage, for through 
its influence friendly relations were maintained among the various 
gentes composing the tribe, and it was also the means by which 
friendship with interrelated tribes was established and preserved. 
Early French travelers mention this ceremony as being performed 
by the Osage in one of the tribes of the Illinois confederacy during 
the second decade of the eighteenth century. Unlike the Osage war 
ceremonies, which are complex and composed of several steps or 
degrees, the Wawatho® is simple and complete in itself. The “ pipes,” 
sometimes called calumets, which are employed in its performance, 
consist of a number of sacred symbolic articles, each of which, with 
its attendant ritual, was in the keeping of a certain gens of the tribe. 
The assembling of these articles formed an essential part of the 
ceremony, for it was on this occasion that the ritual, which explained 
both the significance of and the precepts conveyed by the sacred 
articles, had to be recited. This Wawatho" ceremony resembled that 
