NO. 17 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, IQ16 131 
vocabulary so far known and the only known vocabulary of Akokisa. 
A photostat copy of this was secured later, and similar copies of 
several other original manuscripts or copies of originals: one a 
second French memoir giving a considerable account of the Choctaw 
Indians, and censuses, town by town, of both the Choctaw and the 
Creeks, another an enumeration of the Louisiana Indians, apparently 
by Bienville, and a third a Spanish census of the Indians in Florida 
in the early part of the eighteenth century, which includes the town, 
the name of each Indian, and his approximate age. This library 
also preserves what appears to. be the original manuscript from 
which the Mémoires Historiques sur La Louisiane of Dumont de 
Montigny was composed. On the basis of the material enumerated 
it is now possible to classify exactly the little known Akokisa, Washa, 
and Chaouacha tribes, and to add considerably to our knowledge 
of the Indians north of the Gulf of Mexico in other particulars. 
WAS ING) Wishes, ClelaiNOMA2 TUNIDILAIN'S 
Owing to impaired health the field-work of Mr. James Mooney 
in 1916 was confined to a visit of about ten weeks (May 28-August 
10) to the old Cherokee country in western North Carolina, during 
which time he visited the principal Indian settlements and railroad 
towns and added to his information on the tribal folklore, besides 
securing several important documents bearing on the participation 
of the Cherokee in the Confederate service during the Civil War. 
SOLAR RADIATION OBSERVATIONS AT MOUNT WILSON 
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory has a station at 
Mount Wilson, California, on ground leased from the Mount Wilson 
Solar Observatory of the Carnegie Institution. In 1916, as in former 
years since 1905, observations of the intensity of solar radiation 
were made there during the months June to October by Messrs. 
Abbot and Aldrich. 
In the course of the research, now continued for more than 
a decade, the variability of the sun has been definitely proved. 
Expeditions for checking Mount Wilson results were conducted 
to Algeria in 1911 and 1912, and simultaneous measurements in 
California and Algeria confirmed the reality of the suspected varia- 
tions of the sun. Further confirmation was obtained at Mount Wilson 
in 1913, and subsequently. For it was found that the distribution of 
brightness over the solar disk is variable in association with the 
sun's total radiation. Not only does the sun’s radiation fluctuate 
