REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 3T 



were sung in the Sia tongue, and that one of the esoteric fraternities sang in Piman, 

 but it was not until her last visit to Zuni that slie learned that all of the thirteen eso- 

 teric fraternities used other languages than their own in their ceremonies. It is difti- 

 cult to catch the words of an aboriginal choir singing to the accompaniment of rattles 

 and drums, especially when the mind is absorbed in noting the ritual rather than the 

 words employed. But during the last season, having in view a comparative study of 

 the Pueblo Indians, and knowingthatat least one fraternity employed a foreign tongue, 

 Mrs. Stevenson closely observed this feature of the ceremonies and made special 

 inquiries of the priests and theurgists, thus determining the remarkable fact that this 

 was true of all. Several reasons could be advanced for this use of strange languages, 

 but it remains for future investigation to acquaint us fully with the facts. 



Mrs. Stevenson makes the important observation that, although the ceremonies 

 which she describes in her monograph were regularly practiced during the first 

 decade and a half spent by her in their study and were faithfully observed in every 

 detail, they have since been gradually changed and in some instances have been 

 abandoned. It would thus appear that these researches were not undertaken a 

 moment too soon. 



In the main the results of the year's work in Zuiii have been incorporated in the 

 monographic studies of the Zuni people prepared by Mrs. Stevenson during the pre- 

 vious years. The final work is now in the editor's hands and wnll soon be submitted 

 for publication. Mrs. Stevenson's familiarity with the language of the Zunis, the con- 

 fidence with which she has inspired them, the deep insight she has obtained into 

 the philosophical and religious meaning of their ceremonies, and her intimate knowl- 

 edge of their sociology peculiarly fit her for the presentation of a monograph on this 

 people. 



The herbarium of edible, medicinal, and fetishistic plants collected by Mrs. Steven- 

 son over an area 110 miles north and south and 60 miles east and west from Zuiii, 

 contains about 200 specimens. Among the many interesting varieties are a narcotic, 

 Datura stramonium, a specific for hemorrhage, UstUago, and what the Zuni claim to be 

 their native cotton, Esculapia Mexicana. The fiber of the latter is made at the pres- 

 ent time into a cord for the more sacred objects used by the rain priests, and the 

 Zunis claim that all of their cotton fabrics were woven of this plant before the advent 

 of the Spaniards. Acknowledgments are due to Dr. F. V. Coville, Botanist, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and Dr. J. N. Rose, Assistant Curator, U. S. National Museum, 

 for their courteous assistance in providing ]Mrs. Stevenson with facilities for preserv- 

 ing the plants and also for the classification of the collection. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year Mr. James Mooney was in the field in western 

 Oklahoma, engaged in the prosecution of researches among the Kiowa and Cheyenne 

 tribes in the joint interest of the Bureau of American Ethnology and the Field Colum- 

 bian Museum under an agreement made in the preceding year. Except during two 

 brief visits to Washington, in September and in November, 1902, i\Ir. Mooney 

 devoted the entire year to researches relating to the social customs, religion, and art 

 of the tribes, especial attention being given to investigations of the heraldrj- system 

 of the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache tribes as exemplified in the old-time shields and 

 decorated tipis. His work comprised the preparation of a full series of shield and 

 tipi models on a suitable scale, together with related investigations and collections. 

 The heraldry investigation and the model series for the confederated Kiowas and 

 Kiowa-Apaches are nearly finished and the latter is expected to constitute part of 

 the Smithsonian exhibit at the forthcoming Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The' 

 complete model series may be estimated to contain 150 shields and 40 tipis for the 

 Kiowas and confederated Apaches, and a somewhat smaller nund^er for the Chey- 

 ennes. In April Mr. ^Mooney shifted his base of operations from Mount Scott, in the 

 Kiowa country, to a station near Bridgeport, in the Cheyenne country, about 100 miles 

 north, and has since been moving about among the widely separated Cheyenne camps. 



