REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 30 
Mr. James Mooney made a short visit in July to the mountain region of North 
Carolina and Tennessee, the former home of the Cherokees, for the purpose of col- 
lecting additional facts for his monograph upon that tribe. In connection with the 
same work he had intended to visit the Cherokee Nation in the Indian Territory in 
the following winter, but in the meantime the ‘‘ Messiah religion” had begun to 
attract so much attention that he was directed to investigate that subject also at 
the same time, as well as to gather more material bearing upon the linguistic affini- 
ties of the Kiowa tribe. He left Washington December 22, and proceeding at once 
to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation in Indian Territory, where the ghost 
dances were in full progress, remained for several weeks studying the dance, mak- 
ing photographs, and collecting the songs used. This last was the most important 
part of the study, as most of the Messiah religion is embodied in songs many of 
which go to the root of Indian mythology. That religion is a remodeling of aborigi- 
nal beliefs as influenced by the ideas of Christianity lately imbibed from the white 
man, to be used for the utter confounding of the white man himself. It is in no 
sense a warlike movement. It is somewhat remarkable that the ghost songs in use 
by the various tribes are almost all in the language of the Arapahoes, the members of 
that tribe being the most active propagators of the new religion and their language 
being peculiarly adapted to music. 
He then proceeded to the Kiowa Reservation, where linguistic and other materials 
were obtained, by which it may become possible to finally classify that hitherto 
isolated tribe. Additional ghost-dance material was also collected. After revisit- 
ing the Cherokee Nation, where several weeks were devoted to gathering informa- 
tion, especially in regard to the Indian geography of upper Georgia, he returned to 
Washington early in April. 
In accordance with arrangements for the World’s Columbian Exposition it was 
decided to make a tribal exhibit from one of the more primitive prairie tribes. The 
Kiowas were selected for the purpose and the work was assigned to Mr. Mooney, 
who at once prepared to return to their reservation. During May and June he col- 
lected a large variety of articles illustrative of the home life, arts, dress, and cere- 
monials of the tribe, and was still in the field at the close of the fiscal year. 
OFFICE WORK. 
The Director during the year devoted all the time he could spare from other offi- 
cial duties to the completion of a work on the linguistic families of North America, 
His undertaking to classify the North American languages so as to be of scientific 
value as well as of practical use has been explained in previous reports. This classi- 
fication is recognized to be, when properly made, an indispensable preliminary to 
all aceurate ethnologic work relating to this continent. The essay, with its accom- 
panying linguistic chart, was delivered to the Publie Printer during the year, to 
form part of the seventh annual report of this Bureau, though that volume at this 
date has not yet been actually issued. 
Col. Garrick Mallery, U. 8S. Army, during the year, when not occupied in special 
and occasional duties designated by the director, was engaged in arranging for pub- 
lication the material gathered by him during several former years on the general 
theme of pictography. That title is used to embrace all modes of expressing and 
communicating thoughts and facts in a durable form without reference to sound. 
Such modes of expression being at one time if not still independent of oral language, 
the study of their history, evolution, and practice may assist in the solution of some 
ethnic and psychic problems, and may verify or modify some theories of anthro- 
pologie import. In the scheme of arrangement for publication the objective exhibi- 
tion of mental concepts by the North American Indians has been classified with 
proper predeminance, as it has exceeded in interest all others known which have not 
passed beyond the beundaries separating ideograms and emblems from syllabaries 
and alphabets. In erder to promote explanation and comparison, however, copies 
H, Mis. 334, pt. 1——3 
