ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT. XXXI 



on December 22, and jjroceeding at once to the Cheyenne and. 

 Arapaho reservation in Indian ten-itory, where the ghost 

 dances were in fnll operation, remained for several weeks study- 

 ing the dances, making photographs, and collecting the songs 

 used. This last was the most important part of the study, as 

 most of the Messiah religion is embodied in songs, naany of 

 which go to the root of Indian mythology. That religion is 

 a remodeling of aboriginal beliefs as influenced by the ideas 

 of Christianity lately imbibed from the white man, to be used 

 for the utter confounding of the white man himself. It is in 

 no sense a warlike movement. It is somewhat remarkable 

 that the ghost songs in use by the various tribes are almost all 

 in the language of the Arapahoes, the members of that tribe 

 being the most active propagators of the new religion and 

 their language being peculiarly adapted to music. 



He then proceeded to the Kiowa reservation, where lin- 

 guistic and other materials were obtained by which it may 

 become possible finally to classify that hitherto isolated tribe. 

 Additional ghost-dance material was also collected. After 

 revisiting the Cherokee nation, where several weeks were 

 devoted to gathering information, especially in regard to the 

 Indian geography of upper Georgia, he returned to Washing- 

 ton early in April. 



In accordance with an-angements for the World's Columbian 

 Exposition it was decided to make a tribal exhibit from one of 

 the more primitive prairie ti'ibes. The Kiowas were selected 

 for the purpose and the work was assigned to Mr. Mooney, 

 who then returned to their reservation. During May and 

 June he collected a large variety of articles illustrative of the 

 home life, arts, di'ess, and ceremonials of the tiibe, and was 

 still in the field at the close of the fiscal year. 



OFFICE WORK. 



The Director during the year devoted all the time he 

 could spare from other oflicial duties to the completion of 

 a work on the linguistic families of North America. His 

 effort to classify the North American languages so that the 

 classification shall he of scientific value as well as of practical 



