52 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



Mr. Hewitt also devoted much time to the collection and prepara- 

 tion of data for answers to correspondents of the bureau, especially 

 with reference to the Iroquoian and Algonquian tribes. 



Mr. Francis La Flesche, ethnologist, continued his investigations 

 of the ethnology of the Osage Indians, giving particular attention to 

 their rituals and accompanying songs. He was enabled to record on 

 the dictaphone the songs and fragments of the rituals belonging 

 to the Waxobe degree of the No'*'ho"zhi"ga rites, of which, as noted in 

 the last annual report, he has been making a special study. These 

 rituals have been transcribed and, with the 84 songs that have been 

 transcribed in musical notation by Miss Alice C. Fletcher, comprise 

 66 typewritten pages. 



Mr. La Flesche has also been able to record the No'^'zhi^zho", or 

 Fasting degree, of the Puma and Black Bear gentes. These two 

 organizations are closely related; they not only use in common the 

 songs and rituals of the No°'ho»zhi"ga rites, but they even go to the 

 extent of exchanging gentile personal names as full recognition 

 of their relationship. The No"'zhi"zho'' degree employs 12 rituals 

 and numerous songs, of which latter 81 have been recorded. These 

 songs are divided into two great groups, the first of which is known as 

 "The Seven Songs," having 16 sets, and the second, " The Six Songs," 

 having 17 sets. The Osage texts of these rituals and songs cover 207 

 pages, about three-fourths of which have been finally typewritten. 

 The 81 songs have been transcribed in musical notation by Miss 

 Fletcher, while the translation of the rituals and the words of the 

 songs is in progress. 



In the autumn of 1912 Mr. La Flesche was fortunate in securing 

 in full the Ni'k'i degree of these intricate Osage rites. Hitherto he 

 had been able to obtain only the beginning of this degi'ee, but his in- 

 formant was finall}^ induced to recite it in its entirety, comprising 

 1,542 lines. The real title of this degree is Ni'k'i No"k'o", " The Hear- 

 ing of the Words of the People." In it the genesis of the tribe is 

 given in a story made up of myth, legend, and symbolism, the whole 

 being clearly devised to keep the people ever mindful of the necessity 

 of an orderly and authoritative conduct of war. It goes to show that 

 the principle of war was early recognized by the Osage as the surest 

 means by which not only tribal and individual life might be safe- 

 guarded against strange and hostile tribes, but also as the means by 

 which the tranquil enjoyment of game and other natural products of 

 their environment might be won. It is to this coveted tranquillity 

 that the closing lines of many of the rituals refer, invariably likening 

 it to a " serene day." This degree employs ritual almost entirely, 

 there being only 10 songs. The native ritual comprises 57 type- 

 written pages, of which a large part has been translated. 



