EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 47 



Mr. Hewitt has also attended the meetings of the United States 

 Geographic Board, on which he represents the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution. 



As custodian af manuscripts, Mr. Hewitt has charged out and 

 received back such items as were required by collaborators. 



Mr. Hewitt also spent much time and study in the preparation of 

 matter for official replies to letters of correspondents of the bureau 

 or to those which have been referred to the bureau from other depart- 

 ments of the Government. 



On May 12, 1919, Mr. Hewitt left Washington on field duty. His 

 first stop was on the Onondaga reservation, situated about 8 miles 

 south of Syracuse, N. Y. There he was able to record in native text 

 all of the doctrines of the great Seneca religious reformer, Skanyo- 

 daiyo ("Handsome Lake"). This is an important text, as it will 

 serve to show just how much was original native belief and how 

 much was added by the reformer from his impressions formed from 

 observing the results of European intrusion. This text contains 

 about 14,000 native terms. He also recorded the several remnant 

 league rituals and chants which are still available on this reserva- 

 tion. But they are so much abbreviated and their several parts so 

 confused and intermixed one with another that with these remains 

 alone it would be absolutely impossible to obtain even an approxi- 

 mate view of their original forms and settings — a most disappoint- 

 , ing situation for the recorder. Only the most elementary and super- 

 ficial knowledge of the structure and constitution of the Iroquois 

 League survives here. 



Having completed his projected work at this reservation, Mr. 

 Hewitt went, May 31, to the Six Nations reservation on Grand 

 River, Ontario, Canada. Here he resumed the analysis, correction, 

 amendation, and translation of the league texts which he had re- 

 corded in previous j-ears. Satisfactory progress was made in this 

 work up to the time of the close of his field assignment. 



During the year Mr. Francis LaFlesche, ethnologist, devoted a 

 part of his time to the task of assembling his notes taken at the time 

 of his visit among the Osage people in the month of May, 1918. 

 These notes relate to the tribal rite entitled Ga-hi'-ge 0-k'o", The 

 Kite of the Chiefs. The ritual contains 27 wi'-gi-es (recited parts), 

 20 of which belong to individual gentes and 7 of which are tribal. 



In this ritual is embodied the story of the four stages of the de- 

 velopment of the tribal government, including both the military and 

 the civil forms, beginning with the chaotic state of the tribal exist- 

 ence. 



The securing of the information relating to this rite reciuired con- 

 siderable tact, patience, and time, because the men familiar with all 

 the details still regard the ancient rites with reverence and supersti- 



