18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
ing, disintegration, and new combinations of tribes, no 
one section can be treated separately or finally as apart 
from others. Considering the difficulties met in a study 
of this kind, the work is making satisfactory progress. 
Dr. John R. Swanton, ethnologist, devoted most of the 
year to field researches among the Creek Indians in Okla- 
homa. These investigations continued from the middle of 
September, 1911, to the middle of May, 1912, during which 
period excursions were made into Texas to visit the 
Alibamu Indians and for the purpose of endeavoring to 
trace remnants of other Texas tribes, and to the Caddo 
Indians of southwestern Oklahoma. No remains of Texas 
tribes of ethnologic value, other than the Alibamu, were 
located, but a considerable mass of material was obtained 
from the latter. Doctor Swanton’s visit to the Caddo 
was with the view of learning how many of the old Caddo 
dialects were still spoken, and some valuable documentary 
material was obtained in Natchitoches, Louisiana. No 
words of Haiish, supposed to be quite distinct from the 
other Caddo dialects, could be gathered, but evidence was 
obtained that it resembled Adai. In the course of his 
Creek investigations Doctor Swanton visited and made 
photographs of every busk ground of the Creeks and 
Seminole still maintained, and information was gathered 
regarding the organization of the ‘‘ big house ’’ in each, 
as well as in those that have been abandoned. Doctor 
Swanton devoted July and August, 1911, mainly to the 
study of the Hitchiti and Natchez languages, and the 
period subsequent to his return to Washington in May, 
1912, was occupied in copying his field notes and in inci- 
dental work on the Timucua language of ancient Florida, 
as preserved in Father Pareja’s writings, with the view 
of determining whether Timucua bears any relation to 
the languages of the Muskhogean stock. 
On his way from Oklahoma to Washington, Doctor 
Swanton stopped at Bloomington, Indiana, for the purpose 
of representing the bureau at the fifth annual meeting of 
the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, before 
