ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT XLV 
and religious usages of primitive peoples; it is known also 
that among some peoples drugs are used to intensify the 
abnormal condition attended by visions; but there is probably 
no better examvle of this custom than that afforded by the 
Kiowa and some neighboring tribes in their use of peyote. 
The mental effects of the drug are something like those pro- 
duced by hashish; its influence is so strong and so certain that 
the Indians using it have come to rely on it for the production 
of the ecstatic state regarded as essential to the proper per- 
formance of their ceremonial rites, while, in turn, the rites 
have been so adjusted to the effects produced by the drug that 
they are, in Mr Mooney’s opinion, completely dependent on 
it for their existence. Although the researches concerning the 
subject are not complete, preliminary announcements have 
been made concerning the results of scientific examination of 
peyote and concerning its influence on the religious practices 
of the tribe. 
In connection with his work on this subject, Mr Mooney 
completed during the year a memoir on the Kiowa calendar 
system, which has been incorporated in the seventeenth annual 
report. This memoir is deemed noteworthy as a remarkably 
exhaustive rendering of what may be called the autobio- 
graphic history of an important tribe. 
In his comparative studies of the Seri, Papago, and other 
tribes, Mr McGee was led to consider the course of develop- 
ment of myth, or of the explanation of phenomena in terms 
of the supernatural. It is significant that, so far as can be 
ascertained, supernaturalism is a more potent factor in deter- 
mining conduct among the warlike Seri than among the peace- 
ful Papago, and the examination of other tribes indicates that 
the relation is general—i. e., that the tendency toward super- 
natural explanation, with its concomitant effect on conduct, is 
gradually rectified by intertribal contact in a manner akin to 
that in which myths and languages are blended. The studies 
are still in progress. 
Descriptive ETHNOLOGY 
The preparation of material for the Cyclopedia of Indian 
Tribes was continued during the year under the immediate 
