REPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 39 



social organization, or at least as a tangible and definite expression of consanguineal 

 relation. A third factor in the organization of the Californian aborigines grows out 

 of their industrial status. Since their chief food source is the acorn, and since the 

 oak trees never grow in continuous forests, but are somewhat sparsely distributed 

 among other trees or over the openings of the valleys, the native population was 

 necessarily sparse and scattered, and each tribe tended to remain permanently 

 attached to a definite range; and this sparse distribution permitted and promoted 

 the retention of tribal dialects corresponding to each range. A fourth factor appears 

 in ceremonial observances, apparently growing out of the industrial condition, 

 notably the afRne taboo which prohibits communication between sons-in-law and 

 mothers-in-law, and among some of the tribes between daughters-in-law and fathers- 

 in-law and other connections by marriage. The linguistic and industrial ceremonial 

 factors all o])erate as repulsive forces tending to prevent aggregation of population 

 and interconnnunication of tribes, and hence to retard cultural development; and it 

 would appear that the several factors, interacting with cunuilative effect, have com- 

 bined to produce the singular concentration of linguistic stocks in the Pacific coast 

 region. The researches concerning this subject are not yet complete. 



During the earlier part of the fiscal year Mr. Mooney continued researches relat- 

 ing to the Kiowa Indians, and noted as a conspicuous characteristic of the tribe the 

 apparent absence of a clan or gentile system; for, despite his intimate acquaintance 

 with and adoption into the tribe, he has never been able to discover unmistakable 

 traces of this commonly prominent feature of primitive social organization. This pecu- 

 liar characteristic has received attention by the Director and several of the collabora- 

 tors, and an apparently satisfactory explanation has been discovered: On reviewing 

 the tribal customs it became evident that the widely roving Kiowa enjoyed contact 

 with other tribes, and consequent acculturation in an exceptional if not unique 

 degree. Sometimes the association was amicable, when ideas and devices were freely 

 interchanged; not infrequently the contact was inimical, when the Kiowa were com- 

 monly enriched by the acquisition, not only of plunder, but of captives who were 

 subsequently ado^Dted into the tribe; and the general effect of the wide association 

 was to extend the intellectual range and differentiate the blood of the Kiowa. 

 Especially important was the habitual adoption of captives, the effect of which is 

 a]^v•ays to introduce arbitrary relationships tending to break down the natural kin- 

 ship system; yet hardly less important were the oft-recurring excursions for hunting 

 and plunder, since they involved more or less arbitrary extensions of the consan- 

 guineal organization, somewhat analogous to those attending the development of 

 patriarchy among regularly nomadic peoples. Collectively, the consequences of the 

 roving and predatory habits of the Kiowa must have been to subordinate, in excep- 

 tional if not unique degree, the prevailing kinship organization characteristic of 

 primitive society and to gloss or even to replace it with the more strictly artificial 

 or demotic system corresponding to that of higher culture. The results of these 

 researches concerning the distinctive organization of the Kiowa will be incorporated 

 in Mr. Mooney' s memoir on the heraldic system of the tribe. 



WOKK IN PHILOLOGY. 



Toward the end of the fiscal year the Director made some progress in systemizing 

 the rich linguistic collections in the archives of the Bureau, with a view to formulat- 

 ing plans for further research concerning the aboriginal tongues of America; but the 

 results are not yet ready for announcement. 



Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt continued the collection of Iroquoian material, both Unguistic 

 and mythologic, and has made satisfactory progress in preparing material for publi- 

 cation. His studies illustrate the importance of combining inquiries concerning prim- 

 itive myths with linguistic inquiries. Thus certain puzzling inflections introduced in 



