XXVI BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



to this end, partly because of the inlierent interest of the 

 subject, he has umlertaken a comparative study of the creation 

 myths of the Iroquoian and some other tribes. During the 

 later portion of the year the greater part of his time has l)eeii 

 devoted to this study, with highly satisfactory results. 



During his operations among the Mescalero and Jicarilla 

 Ajiache tribes of New Mexico, mainly for the jiurpose of gain- 

 ing knowledge concerning the ceremonial use of the peyote 

 among those people, as recorded in previous paragraphs, Mr 

 James Mooney seized the opportimity of obtaining vocabula- 

 ries for comparison with cognate dialects, together with the 

 genesis myths. The Mescalero and Jicarilla dialects are prac- 

 tically the same, and the cosmogony of the two tribes is also 

 nearly identical, although they Avere generall}- at war with 

 each other, the Mescalero cooperating with the Plains tribes 

 while the Jicarilla were allies of the Ute. Owing to the fact 

 that the Lipan were nearly exterminated a generation ago, and 

 by reason of the isolation of the surviving remnants, doubt has 

 been expressed as to their true affinity; but from a vocabulary 

 obtained by Mr Mooney from members of this tribe associated 

 with the Mescalero on their reservation, it is now known that 

 they speak a well-defined Athapascan dialect. Such linguistic 

 researches as the present meager knowledge of their language 

 would permit were also conducted by Mr Mooney among the 

 modified Tiwa and Piro Indians on the Rio Grande below El 

 Paso. Returning from the field for the purpose of revising 

 proofs of a memoir on the Calendar History of the Kiowa 

 Indians, in course of composition as a part of the seventeenth 

 annual report, Mr. Mooney remained in the office during the 

 last quarter of. the year, occupied, in the intervals of proof- 

 reading, by the translation and arrangement of a large collec- 

 tion of Cherokee myths recorded in the original syllabary as 

 well as in the English. Satisfactory progress was made in pre- 

 paring the material for publication. 



During the later part of the year the researches in Indian 

 sign language, which were brought to a close by the death of 

 Colonel Mallery in 1894, were resumed through the collabora- 

 tion of Captain, now Colonel, Hugh L. Scott, U. S. A. Colonel 

 Scott was stationed for some years on the frontier, where he 



