XLV1 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 



by the Iroquois of Canada, arc not sufficiently extensive for 

 classification, and are chiefly valuable as illustrating the an- 

 tiquity and universality of that medium of communication. 



The results of Colonel Mallery's study of pictographs are 

 sufficiently indicated in his paper on that subject published in 

 the present volume. 



In the whole of these studies Colonel Mallery has been as- 

 sisted by Dr. W. J. Hoffman. 



Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith, who had already collected a vocab- 

 ulary of eight thousand words in the Tuscarora dialect and a 

 great number in Onondaga and Seneca, found their synonyms 

 in Mohawk in the manuscript dictionary of Father Marcoux 

 before mentioned. From this dictionary she translated over 

 twelve thousand words into English, rewriting the Mohawk 

 and changing the old manner of spelling employed by the 

 missionaries into the phonetic system prescribed by the Bureau 

 for transcribing Indian words. Some of the words preserved 

 in this dictionary have long since fallen into disuse and many 

 are such as would be used only in the service of the church. 

 Those containing records of old customs or which are suggest- 

 ive of Indian characteristics have been carefully analyzed and 

 noted by Mrs. Smith in this translation. 



A chrestomathy of the Mohawk dialect has also been care- 

 fully filled out by Mrs. Smith during the year. This contains 

 the names of many towns and their derivations, as well as a 

 large number of names of trees, plants, and shrubs, names of 

 the months, days, &c, and their connotation. 



A table containing a large number of words in use among 

 the isolated Mohawk of Caughnawaga and their synonyms as 

 used by the Mohawk on the "Six Nations Eeserve," Ontario, 

 Canada, exhibits as complete differences in words representing 

 the same object or thought between these two separated por- 

 tions of one tribe as exists between corresponding words in 

 different dialects. The completion of this Iroquoian dictionary 

 composed of synonyms of the six dialects may be expected to 

 reveal many important facts regarding the formation of dia- 

 lects and relating to Indian languages in general. 



Rev. J. Owen Dorsey was engaged during much of the year 



