XLIV ANNUAL REPOUT OF THE DIRECTOR 



was steadily engaged in collecting material for a grammar and 

 a dictionary of the Navajo language. He was also occupied 

 in the preparation of the paper on "Navajo Silversmiths" and 

 that on " Navajo Weavers," published respectively in the second 

 and third annual reports, and in the investigation of other 

 branches of anthropology in relation to the above mentioned 

 tribe with a view to future publication. 



OFFICE WORK. 



Former reports have recognized the demand made by the 

 public for certain publications as fundamental to the study i if 

 Indian anthropology : to furnish these is conceived to be the 

 first and most obvious duty of the Bureau These publications in 

 the order of inquiry and request are : ( 1 ) a series of charts show- 

 ing the habitat of all tribes when first met by Europeans and 

 at subsequent eras; (2) a dictionary of tribal synonymy, which 

 should refer the multiplied and confusing titles, as given in 

 literature and in varying usage, to a correct and systematic 

 standard of nomenclature; (3) a classification, on a linguistic 

 basis, of all the known Indians of North America, remaining 

 and extinct, into families or stocks. 



The order of possible preparation of these publications is 

 the reverse of the above. The charts cannot be drawn until 

 the tribes, as villages, confederacies, and leagues, shall have 

 been resolved from multiplicity and confusion into identifica- 

 tion and simplicity. The linguistic classification precedes the 

 whole of the work, and the difficulties attending it have at 

 times suspended its satisfactory progress until expeditions of 

 research had been sent forth to clear up the obstacles of un- 

 certainty or ignorance. Numerous publications of ethnologic 

 charts, of partial synonymies, and of tentative classifications 

 have appeared from various sources, but all have been im- 

 perfect and more or less erroneous. The personal attention of 

 the Director and of all the officers and employe's of the Bureau 

 has been steadily directed, in addition to the several bi - anches of 

 work from time to time undertaken, to presenting them in a 

 proper form. The labor and study required have been beyond 



