﻿232 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 78 



gion we evidently have a meeting place of the types of prehistoric cul- 

 tures in the northern and southern parts of Arizona. 



RECORDING OF HOPI INDIAN MUSIC 



At the request of the Starr Piano Co. of Richmond, Ind., Dr. J. 

 Walter Fewkes superintended the recording of eleven Katcina songs of 

 the Hopi Indians. Permission was received from the Office of Indian 

 Affairs to take four Indians from their reservation to the Grand 

 Canyon, where the recording was done. The singers represented the 

 older generation and remembered Dr. Fewkes from the time of his 

 studies among their tribe 30 years ago. The age of the singers insured 

 the genuineness of the songs, many of the words of which are archaic 

 and cannot be translated. 



Dr. Fewkes noted with much interest the improvements that have 

 l)een made in recording apparatus since his pioneer efforts along this 

 line over 30 years ago. The Indians displayed no hesitancy in singing 

 into the microphone and seemed quite pleased on hearing the result. 



The original master records will eventually be deposited with the 

 Smithsonian together with a set of the reproductions. 



ARCHEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL RESEARCHES 



IN CALIFORNIA 



The beginning of the year found ?\Ir. J. P. Harrington, ethnologist, 

 engaged in the work of following up what information is still available 

 on the culture and archeology of the Mission Indians of southern Cali- 

 fornia. Work was continued at ruined village sites in the Santa Ines, 

 Ojai, and Simi valleys, and important discoveries were made revealing 

 an earlier and a later coast Indian culture. The archeological sites of 

 the region are being built over at an alarming rate, due to the settling 

 up of the country by Americans, and thus are being lost forever to 

 scientific investigation. The numerous pictographs, legendary stones, 

 and place names were also thoroughly investigated. The rancheria of 

 Misyahu in the Canada de las Uvas was traced with more than usual 

 success, although it seems that the cemetery has been washed away 

 by the arroyo. The village consisted of 30 or more dome-shaped huts, 

 from 12 to 20 feet in diameter, clustered irregularly on and about a 

 great rocky hill, also of dome shape. Most of the hut circles can still 

 be traced, but little was found under the surface of the floors. The 

 near-by village of Sikutip had an entirely different arrangement, stand- 

 ing on the floor of a meadow beside a little swampy patch of ground 

 that must have supplied the Indians with drinking water. Four large 

 springs with pictographs traced on their rocky walls were located in 

 the vicinity. 



