ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT XXVH 



was in constant contact witli various Indian tribes, including 

 the plains Indians, aiiionj^- wlumi the sig'n language was highly 

 developed. EarK- in his stay he became interested in the signs 

 and began acciuiring this interesting art of expression, and his 

 studies continued until he became proticient and able to use 

 the sign language iial)ituall\ in communicating with vai'ious 

 tribes. His knowledge of the system is undoubtedly superior 

 to that of anv other white man, and his acquaintance with 

 individual signs exceeds that of any Indian with whom he has 

 come in contact. During the winter Captain Scott was trans- 

 ferred to Washington, and through the covirtesy of tlie Secre- 

 tary of War and the Commanding General of the Army he 

 was authorized to take up the record and discussion of sign 

 lano-uas"e under the direction of the Burean. Considerable 

 progress had been made in the work when it was interrupted 

 by conditions connected with the war with Spain. 



Work in Sophiology 



The Director continued the development of a system of clas- 

 sification designed to indicate tlie })lace of the American abo- 

 rigines among the peoples of the earth Dnring the latei- part 

 of the year he took up the voluminous material in the Bureau 

 archives relating to aboriginal mythology; While in charge 

 of the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of 

 the Rocky Mountain region, before the Bureau was instituted, 

 the Director began the collection of mj^ths among the Indians 

 of the territories, and when the Bureau was created this mate- 

 rial, in connection with a body of linguistic manuscripts obtained 

 by the Smithsonian Institution, formed the original archives. 

 Additional material was collected from time to time by the 

 Director and 'by several of the collaborators, and there are now 

 some hundreds of manuscript rcu-ords read^' for stud}-. Satis- 

 factory progress has been made in the preliminarv arrangement 

 of the manuscripts and in the extraction and classification of 

 salient features in the primitive mythology prevailing among 

 all of the native tribes before the advent of the white man. 



Mrs Matilda Coxe Stevenson has continued the final revision 

 of her maiuiscript for a memoir on Zinii ceremonies, de.signed 

 for incorporation in an early report. Most of the cliapters are 



