42 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



of Maine and adjaceut parts of New Brunswick. Advantage was taken of an 

 opportunity to obtain a Nez Perc6 vocabulary, representing the Shabaptian stock, 

 from Lewis D. Williams, an educated member of the tribe, who spent some months 

 in Washington during the earlier part of the fiscal year. This record is deemed of 

 special A^alue, not only in that it is more complete than those representing the same 

 stock already on file, but in that it affords means of checking and clearing up doubt- 

 ful points in the earlier records. 



In addition to collecting a rich body of material relating to the languages and 

 beliefs of several Iroquoian tribes, Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt made considerable progress 

 in the systematic arrangement of material collected during i^receding years. One 

 of the more important lines of his work was a study of the jironoun with special 

 reference to its function in primitive language and its relation to other parts of 

 speech. His researches indicate with greater clearness than others hitherto con- 

 ducted that the pronoun occupies a much more prominent position in primitive 

 speech than in the highly developed languages of cultiired peoples. The prepara- 

 tion of a special paper on the subject was commenced by Mr. Hewitt toward the 

 end of the year. Another line of work by Mr. Hewitt, originating in the collection 

 of niythologic texts, was a comparative study of the creation myths of different 

 Iroquoian and Algonquian tribes. The preliminary results of this study are espe- 

 cially significant in their bearing on. conclusions derived from the study of lan- 

 guage. On comparing half a dozen versions of the Indian cosmogony, he was able 

 to detect unmistakable indications of interchange of such sort as to prove that 

 originally independent myths have undergone considerable coalescence and blending, 

 so that the myth, like the speech in which it is crystallized, is a composite of many 

 elements. Coupled with the features indicating coalescence there are, indeed, cer- 

 tain features indicating differentiation, chiefly in the direction required to adjust 

 the mythic personages to the local fauna; but the indications of differentiation are 

 far subordinate to the evidence of coalescence or integration. A number of typical 

 mjfths representing the aborigines of the northeastern United States have been 

 brought together with a view to publication so soon as the general discussion is 

 completed. 



WOKK IN SOPHIOLOGY. 



The scope and extent of the researches in sophiology during the fiscal year are in 

 some measure set forth in the foregoing paragraphs, for the various demotic activities 

 are interdependent, and neither arts, industries, institutions, nor languages can be 

 developed without the concomitant development of opinions, whether mythic or 

 rational. Important additions to the material representing the symbolism and cere- 

 monies of the Indians have been made through the labors of Mr. Cushing in Florida, 

 Dr. Fewkes and Mrs. Stevenson in Arizona and New Mexico, Dr. Gatschet in Maine, 

 and Mr. Hewitt in New York and Ontario, as already noted. Mr. James Mooney con- 

 tinued his researches relating to the Kiowa Indians, giving special attention to their 

 heraldic and caleudric systems, and to tlie use of the peyote or mescal in their cere- 

 monies. It is well known that dreams and visions, commonly induced by fasting, 

 pl'ay an important role in connection Avith the beliefs and religious usages of primi- 

 tive peoples; it is known also that among some peoples drugs are used to intensify 

 the abnormal condition attended by visions; but there is probably no better 

 example of this custom than that afforded by the Kiowa and some neighboring tribes 

 in their use of the peyote. The mental effects of the drug are something like those 

 produced by hashish; its influence is so strong and so certain that the Indians using 

 it have come to rely on it for the production of the ecstatic state regarded as essential 

 to the proper performance of their ceremonial rites, while, in turn, the rites have 

 been so adjusted to the effects produced by the drug that they are, in Mr. Mooney's 

 opinion, completely dependent on it for their existence. Although the researches 

 concerning the subject are not complete, preliminary announcements have been made 

 concerning the results of scientific examination of the peyote and concerning its 

 influence on the religious practices of the tribe. 



