ADMINISTRATIVK REPORT XXIX 



facts, habits, and even languages, which were interpreted 

 as evidences of former contact until their incongruity 

 with geographic and other facts jDroved them to be coin - 

 cidental merely, for the interdependence of thought and 

 environment offers an adequate explanation of the coin - 

 cidences, while the diminishing dependence of thought 

 on environment Avith cultural advancement ecpially ex- 

 plains the preponderence of such coincidences among 

 lowly peoples. A preliminary announcement of the 

 results of the study has been made, but full publication 

 is withheld pending further field work. 



Mr James Mooney spent the greater part of the fiscal 

 year in elaborating for]»ublicationthe extensive collection 

 of material made by him among the Cherokee Indians 

 several years ago. The collection comprises a nearly 

 complete series of the myths and traditions of the tribe, 

 cosmogonic, historical, interpretative, and trivial; for 

 among the Cherokee, as among other primitive peoples, 

 the traditions vary widely in character and ]uirpose. Mr 

 Moonej^'s collections are peculiarly valual)le in that they 

 are so complete as to indicate the genesis and develo})- 

 ment of the tribal traditions. It would appear that the 

 parent myth usually begins as a trivial story or fable, 

 perhaps carrying a moral and thus introducing and fisxing 

 some precept for the guidance of conduct; the great 

 majority of these fables drop out of the current lore within 

 the generation in which they are born, but those chancing 

 to touch the local life strongly or happening to glow with 

 local genius survive and are handed down to later genera- 

 tions. The transmitted fables form a ]>art of the loi-e 

 repeated by the eldermen and elderwomen night after 

 night to while away the long evenings by the cam]) fire, 

 and in this way they become impressed on tlie memory 

 and imagination of the younger associates ; for under the 

 conditions of prescriptoi'ial life they come to take the 

 place of learning and literature in the growing mind of 

 the youth. In the successive repetitions the weaker 

 fables are eliminated, while the more vigorous are grad- 

 ually combined and eventually strung together in an 



