ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT XXIX 



and dramatic impressiveness. The principal ceremony 

 lasts through a night, following a day of preparation and 

 followed by another day of final feasting, accompanied 

 by games, etc. The central episode is the temporary 

 burial of the novitiate ; a shallow pit is excavated, and in 

 this a fli-e is made, as for a fish bake; after the earth is 

 thoroughlj^ warmed the remaining fuel and coals are re- 

 moved, the gu'l is placed in the pit and buried to the neck 

 with the earth thrown out in making the excavation; 

 there she spends the night, and in the morning is extri- 

 cated and brought befoi'e the assembled tribesmen as a 

 woman; and commonly a match is made with a repre- 

 sentative of some more or less remote branch of the 

 tribe. Through the ceremony community of thought is 

 maintained in most effective fashion, and thi'ough the 

 resulting marriage the two families are united to the 

 extent that a common consequence is the breaking of 

 a new path, often many miles in length, through the 

 luxurious herbage of the annually flooded bottom land. 

 The formal organization of the Cocopa tribe is in large 

 measure esoteric, so that it can be ascertained fully 

 only after prolonged and intimate acquaintance with the 

 tribesmen, but the preliminary investigation serves to 

 show that the field of inquiry is one of promise. 



In his comparative study of myths Mr J. N. B. Hewitt 

 found various references to social customs of such sort as 

 to indicate clearly certain archaic institutions of the Iro- 

 quoian Indians. Thus the Onondaga legends illumine 

 the legislative and executive customs of the tribe, and, 

 while ostensibly giving traditional warrant for the cus- 

 toms, they really picture a somewhat earlier stage in the 

 development of institutions than that found by the Cau- 

 casian pioneers. In this tribe all matters of public policy, 

 especially the selection of chiefs and the discontinuance 

 of war, were first considered by the elderwomen in fairly 

 definite clan councils. Their conclusions were formally 

 communicated to a male spokesman, usually the elder 

 brother (actual or putative) of the elderwoman, and by 



22 ETH — 04 III 



