OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. XXII 
of these tribes became excessively complex. Names were 
greatly multiplied for each tribe and a single name was often 
inconsistently applied to different tribes. Several important rea- 
sons conspired to bring about this complex state of synonymy: 
Ist. A great number of languages were spoken, and ofttimes 
the first names obtained for tribes were not the names used by 
themselves, but the names by which they were known to some 
other tribes. 
2d. The governmental organization of the Indians was not 
understood, and the names for gentes, tribes, and confederacies 
were confounded. 
3d. The advancing occupancy of the country by white men 
changed the habitat of the Indians, and in their migrations 
from point to point their names were changed. ° 
Under these circumstances the nomenclature of Indian tribes 
became ponderous and the synonymy complex. To unravel 
this synonymy is a task of great magnitude. arly in the 
fiscal year the materials already collected on this subject were 
turned over to Professor Mason and clerical assistance given 
him, and he has prepared a card catalogue of North American 
tribes, exhibiting the synonymy, for use in the office. This is 
being constantly revised and enlarged, and will eventually be 
published 
Professor Mason is also engaged in editing a grammar and 
dictionary of the Chata language, by the late Rev. Cyrus Bying- 
ton, the manuscript of which was by Mrs. Byington turned 
over to the Bureau of Ethnology. The dictionary is Chata- 
English, and Professor Mason has prepared an English-Chata 
of about ten thousand words. He has also undertaken to 
enlarge the grammar by a further study of the language 
among the Indians themselves. 
THE STUDY OF GESTURE SPEECH, BY BREVET LIEUT. COL. GAR- 
RICK MALLERY, U. S. A. 
The growth of the languages of civilized peoples in their 
later stages may be learned from the study of recorded litera- 
