Il8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 



March in work on the N'entureno dictionary, which ah-eady covers 

 about 8,000 cards and has served as the basis for similar dictionaries 

 which have been started for the other dialects. The entire summer 

 was devoted to an intensive study of the Barbareho, Ineseno, and 

 Purismeho dialects. The supposedly extinct Purismeho is now 

 represented by a vocabulary of several hundred carefully written 

 words and phrases. This work was followed by a month's further 

 study of the Obispeiio dialect, beginning September 16. More 

 and better material was obtained than previously. The informant's 

 health being such as not to admit of long or steady hours of work 

 daily, there was opportunity to memorize every word and to digest 

 the material thoroughly as it was presented. 



The period from October 14 to November 15 was spent at the 

 Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, in elaborating the notes, and the 

 remainder of the year in field-work on Ventureiio, correcting, im- 

 proving, and adding to the previous notes. 



Some of the interesting features of language and culture dis- 

 covered in Mr. Harrington's studies have iDcen : the use of vowel 

 triplication as a unique grammatical ])rocess ; a system of relation- 

 ship terms which extends to the fourth generation ( for example, 

 great-great-grandparent, great-great-grandchild, and not merely to 

 the third as with most tribes) ; the use of sun shrines and their 

 renewal at the coming of the new year ; the use of one word for 

 world, year, and God ; the use of seaworthy board canoes (fragments 

 of these taken from excavations and now at the Southwest and other 

 museums not hitherto having been recognized as such) ; the institu- 

 tion of berdaches as undertakers; the erection of tall poles hung 

 with property on the graves of rich persons ; the identification of the 

 site of " Pueblo de las Canoas " of early Spanish narratives, and 

 that the Ventureno name for it was Shisholop, meaning " the mud." 

 In connection with this last determination it is interesting to note 

 that the surrounding tribes called A'enlura the " mud place " and 

 the Venturenos the " mud people." 



WORK AMONG THE OSAGE INDIANS 

 During the year 191 6, ^Ir. Francis La Flesche, ethnologist, visited 

 the Osage reservation in Oklahoma for the purpose of continuing 

 his researches among the people of that tribe. While changes are 

 continually taking place in the religious institutions of these people, 

 many of the full-bloods still believe in the ancient rites and retain 

 the practices that have grown out of them. 



After considerable difficulty Mr. La Flesche prevailed upon 

 Sho"'gemo"i", one of the oldest members of the tribe, to recite two 



