REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 69 



the correct translation of the words of the famous " Six Songs " of 

 this ceremony. All other interpreters who have attempted to trans- 

 late these words have assumed that these songs are " songs of greeting 

 and welcome," but Mr. Hewitt, solely on grammatic grounds and the 

 position of these songs, regards them rather as " songs of parting," 

 or " songs of farewell," which are dramatically sung by an imperson- 

 ator for the dead chief or chiefs. 



Mr. Hewitt also recorded, in the Onondaga dialect, a short legend 

 descriptive of the three Air or Wind Beings or Gods, the so-called 

 Hondu"i, the patrons of the Wooden-mask or "False-face" Society, 

 whose chief function is the exorcism of disease out of the community 

 and out of the bodies of ill persons ; another on the Medicine Flute ; 

 another on the Husk-mask Society; and another on the moccasin 

 game used at the wake for a dead chief : in all more than 100 pages of 

 text not related to the material dealing with the Iroquois League. 



Wliile in the field Mr. Hewitt purchased a number of fine specimens 

 illustrating Iroquois culture, exhibiting art of a high order; these 

 consist of a wooden mask, colored black; a husk-mask; two small 

 drums ; a " medicine " flute ; a moccasin game used at a chief's wake ; 

 a pair of deer-hoof rattles; a horn rattle; and a squash rattle. 

 During the time he was in the field, until the close of the fiscal year, 

 Mr. Hewitt read, studied, corrected, and annotated about 8,000 lines 

 of text other than that mentioned above, and also made a number of 

 photographs of Indians. 



Mr. Francis La Flesche, ethnologist, was engaged in assembling his 

 notes on the rites of the Osage tribe. Up to the month of February, 

 280 pages of the ritual of the Fasting degree of the war rites were 

 finished, completing that degree, which comprises 492 pages. The 

 Qathadse, or Kush-mat degree, was next taken up and completed; 

 this degree covers 101 pages. The Child-naming ritual was then 

 commenced, and 21 images have been finished. 



In September, while on leave of absence, Mr. La- Flesche was visited 

 on the Omaha reservation by Xutha Wato°i" of the Tsizhu Wano" 

 gens, who gave a description of the Washabe Athi°, or war ceremony, 

 as he remembered it. With this description he gave 5 wigie and 14 

 songs. The wigie and the words of the songs have been tran- 

 scribed from the dictaphone but are not yet typewritten, and the 

 music of the songs has not yet been transcribed. A number of 

 stories also were obtained from Xutha Wato°i'', among them that 

 of the Osage traditional story of the separation of the Omaha and 

 Osage tribes. Xutha Wato^i"* died soon after his return home, his 

 death being regarded by many as confirming the old-time belief that 

 anyone who recites informally the rituals associated Avith these cere- 

 monies will inevitably suffer dire punishment. The death of this old 



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