REPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 41 



Toward the close of the fiscal year Mr. McGee undertook an inquiry concerning 

 certain mystical symbols, such as that known as the swastika, so common among the 

 decorative devices of the American aborigines, and these graphic devices were com- 

 pared with the mystical number systems involved in the priuiitive cult of the quar- 

 ters. The investigation served to indicate that neither finger counting nor quinary 

 and decimal number systems are primitive, but are products of binary and quarter- 

 nary systems, modified through magnification of the ego in the manner described in 

 })revious reports. The inquiry also afforded useful results bearing on the develop- 

 ment of right-handedness and on the orientation instinct which survives even in the 

 highest culture stages. A preliminary announcement is made, but the principal 

 results are reserved for incorporation in a report dealing with the time concept of the 

 Papago tribe. 



Toward the close of the year Dr. Cyrus Thomas was also led to a comparison of the 

 number systems of the northern tribes with those revealed in the codices and other 

 aboriginal records of Mexico, and began the preparation of a memoir on the subject, 

 designed for incorporation in the next report. 



After his return from Omaha, at the close of the Exposition, Mr. Mooney began 

 arranging for publication his extensive collections of Cherokee myths, and by the 

 end of the year he had the greater part of his voluminous data arranged in form for 

 publication, and was engaged in search for parallels in the records comprised in the 

 archives of the Bureau, as well as in the published literature. His memoir will be 

 incorporated in the next report submitted. 



DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY. 



Mr. F. W. Hodge continued supervision of the material for the Cyclopedia of Indian 

 Tribes and made such additions to the work as his duties in other directions permitted. 

 Dr. Cyrus Thomas spent the greater part of the year in reviewing and extending the 

 portion of the work relating to the tribes of the Siouan stock. His progress in exam- 

 ining the extensive literature involved and preparing the material for publication was 

 satisfactory. During a portion of the year Col. F. F. Hilder, ethnologic translator, 

 was occupied in translating archaic Spanish records of especial value in connection 

 with the Cyclopedia. One of these is a manuscript written in 1782, describing the 

 tribes of Texas with unequaled fulness. The manuscript is anonymous, but Colonel 

 Hilder has succeeded in identifying the author as Padre Morfi. 



COLLECTIONS. 



Among the special collections made during the year were those of Messrs. McGee 

 and Holmes in California, comprising stone artifacts in considerable number and 

 variety, Ijasketry, etc., the collections being of special value in that they represent 

 typical prehistoric workmanship and typical modern workmanshiia combined, and in 

 that they were made on the ground by experts in archeologic and ethnologic research. 

 An(jther collection of special interest, though of somewhat limited extent, was made 

 in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego by Mr. J. B. Hatcher; a portion of the 

 material was received during the year. A number of typical collections made by 

 correspondents of the Bureau and others were also acquired during the year. One of 

 these includes the Wichita house and house furniture obtained l)y j\Ir. ]\rooney, as 

 indicated elsewhere; another is the suit and regalia of Kahkena(iuonal)y (afterwards 

 called Dr. Peter Edward Jones), a member of the ]\Iessissauga tribe of the ()jil)wa; 

 a third is a small but rare and significant lot, including a beautiful example of tlie 

 stone yoke, or ceremonial collar, obtained from iMexico through the agency of Mr. 

 Holmes. 



