66 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



tated by Mr. R. Vargas, and comprising 400 typewritten pages. He 

 finished this for publication before the close of the fiscal year. 



On July 1, 1920, Dr. Truman Michelson, ethnologist, was at Tama, 

 Iowa, engaged in researches among the Sauk and Fox of that State 

 and preparing for publication by the Bureau a manuscript entitled 

 " The Autobiography of a Fox Indian Woman," as far as practical 

 in the field. A good deal of the work on this had been done in the 

 previous fiscal year. Near the close of July he left for Saskatchewan, 

 Canada, where he made a reconnaissance of the Plains Cree at File 

 Hills Agency. From this study it appears that physically the Plains 

 Cree have a cephalic index of about 79, thus belonging to the so-called 

 Mississippi Valley type of North American Indian, which confirms 

 the results of Dr. Boas's work many years ago. Linguistically Cree 

 clearly belongs to the central division of Algonquian languages, but 

 it is not as archaic as has usually been believed. The folklore and 

 mythology here show from an analysis of the culture cycle that both 

 woodland and plains elements are to be found, as well as a few 

 plateau elements. Ethnologically Ave have the same combination, 

 save that plateau elements are lacking. 



Dr. Michelson returned to Washington at the close of August, 

 where he completed the autobiography mentioned above, and in 

 January submitted the manuscript for publication by the bureau. 

 The remainder of his time at Washington was spent working out 

 English translations of various Fox texts written in the current syl- 

 labary on mortuary customs and observances, as well as one or two 

 folk tales. 



Dr. Michelson left Washington in the latter part of May, 1921, to 

 renew his researches among the Sauk and Fox of Iowa. Arriving 

 at Tama near the end of the month, Dr. Michelson spent nearly all 

 his time on Fox mortuary customs and observances, mentioned above, 

 with a view to their publication by the bureau. The Indian texts 

 were restored phonetically, the translations corrected where needed, 

 a grammatical analysis begun, and additional data secured, so that 

 with the close of the fiscal year only about two weeks more field- 

 work was necessary to complete the preparation of the volume so 

 far as practical in the field. He took advantage of a favorable op- 

 portunity just before the end of the year to obtain data on the society 

 called " Ki wa ka mo A ki." 



While in the field and also in the office Dr. Michelson corrected 

 proofs of Bulletin 72, The Owl Sacred Pack of the Fox Indians. 



SPECIAL RESEAR< !HES. 



Four manuscripts have been submitted during the year, entitled 

 " Papago Songs," " Legend Music of the Papago," " Songs Connected 

 With Expeditions to Obtain Salt," and " Viikita and Wakita Cere- 



