NO. I SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS^ 19^9 7Z 



the duty returned with a red flint out of which was shaped a round- 

 handled knife and consecrated to ceremonial uses. 



The ritual given by ]\Io"-zho"-a-ki-da contains 248 lines, divided 

 into 20 sections and arranged, according to subjects, into eight groups. 

 In the story told by ]Mo"-zho"-a-ki-da the people of the Peace-maker 

 gens awakened in mid-heaven to a realization that they were a people 

 when a desire came upon them to descend to earth where they might 

 come into bodily existence. The first three sections record the down- 

 ward journey, of the ])eople finding the first and second heavens 

 (counting downward) to be blank, but in the third heaven they met 

 the Man-of-mystery (the god of rain), who promised them aid in 

 their struggles upon the earth. The sixth section tells of the further 

 descent of the people, of their meeting the great Buft'alo Bull who, 

 out of pity, gives them certain roots to use in healing their bodily 

 ailments. These medicinal roots are used to this day. The great 

 animal then gave them various kinds of corn and squash. The five 

 sections following speak of the journey of the people over the earth, 

 of their coming to certain trees, to the waters of a river where they 

 met the spirit of waters, to water-plants each of which they adopt as 

 life-symbols. The next, a single section, tells of the coming of the 

 people to a dead animal which they adopt as a symbol. The signifi- 

 cance of the incident is not clear. In the next two sections is told of 

 the people coming to the center of the earth, meaning mid-summer, 

 the time greatest in fruitfulness (August), and to a "beautiful 

 house " which was to be their sanctuary. The next group is a single 

 section and speaks of the encounter of the people with another dead 

 animal (an elk), the meaning of which is not clear. The next two 

 sections speak of the people again coming to the center of the earth, 

 meaning another month (September), which, together with August, 

 makes mid-summer. The people at last reach another " beautiful 

 house " with many openings, wherein are to be sent all the children 

 of the people to be given their gentile personal names and assigned 

 to their proper places in the trilxd and gentile order. 



ETHNOLOGICAL STUDIES IN OKLAHOMA, NEW MEXICO, 

 AND CALIFORNIA 



The year was S])ent by Mr. J. P. Harrington, ethnologist, in con- 

 tinuation of his studies of Southwest Indian languages and ethnology. 

 During the first five months of the calendar year he was engaged in 

 the study of the Venturefio and other Chumashan dialects of Cali- 

 fornia. Especial attention was given to the ethnology as well as to 

 the language, the linguistic studies proving to be the key to the 



