42 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^ 1915. 



little affected by civilization, retaining many of their original cus- 

 toms, beliefs, and ceremonies, and a wealth of folklore. 



Dr. Fewkes visited also the ruins of a large pueblo compound on 

 the road between Phoenix and Tempe, chiefly for the purpose of de- 

 termining the advisability of its excavation and repair, as an effort is 

 being made by citizens of Phoenix to preserve the ruins with a view 

 of having the compound created a national monument and receiving 

 adequate scientific treatment. 



Leaving Arizona in February, Dr. Fewkes proceeded again to the 

 Mimbres Valley, but found the weather unpropitious for field work 

 except for excursions with the view of locating sites for possible fu- 

 ture excavation. He returned to Washington about the middle of the 

 month and continued the preparation of his memoir on " Antiquities 

 of the West Indies," which is to include the results of archeological 

 research conducted in the Greater and the Lesser Antilles under the 

 joint auspices of the bureau and the Heye Museum of New York, as 

 referred to in a previous report. In connection with this work Dr. 

 Fewkes visited New York for the purpose of studying recently ac- 

 quired collections, in the Heye Museum, illustrating the culture of 

 the ancient inhabitants of the West Indies. 



The greater part of May was devoted by Dr. Fewkes to the com- 

 pletion of a paper on " Prehistoric Hopi Pottery Designs," which 

 comprises 138 manuscript pages, 12 plates, and 105 figures. In this 

 article thxj author treats of the pictography on the ceramics of the 

 ancient village dwellers of the East Mesa of the Hopi of northwest- 

 ern Arizona, including the Keres and Tewa colonists of early times, 

 as well as the designs of the more modern period. The memoir con- 

 siders in detail the probable genesis of modern Hopi symbolic figures, 

 and devotes attention also to their connection with clan and other 

 sociologic groups. 



The opening of the fiscal year found Mr. James Mooney, ethnolo- 

 gist, engaged in field studies among the Cherokee Indians of North 

 Carolina, which were continued until the middle of September. Mr. 

 Mooney devoted his efforts especially to the further collection and 

 translation of the sacred formulas of the Indians named, together 

 with the collection, for botanical identification, of the plants men- 

 tioned in the formulas, with others of Indian economic importance. 

 The remainder of the fiscal year was spent by Mr. Mooney in the 

 office, most of the time being devoted to the final elaboration of the 

 Cherokee formulas, of varying length, originally written down by 

 the priests of the tribe in the native Cherokee alphabet and used by 

 them for purposes of medicine, love, hunting, fishing, agriculture, 

 protection, etc. Each formula consists usually of a prayer or a song, 

 or both, in an archaic and highly figurative form of the language, 

 followed by brief directions couched in the everyday language, and 



