REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 49 



can never be complete. It was the intention to follow the compila- 

 tion of this table with a closer comparison of C liitimacha and Ata- 

 kapa, which show many resemblances, but in the course of the work 

 so many more similarities between Chitimacha and Tunica presented 

 themselves that these were selected instead. In partial furtherance 

 of this research Dr. S wanton proceeded to Louisiana in May, where 

 he remained almost until the close of the fiscal year, visiting, study- 

 ing, and photographing the mixed Indian population along the gulf 

 coast in La Fourche and Terra Bonne Parishes, the Chitimacha at 

 Charenton, and the Koasati northeast of Kinder. From the Koasati 

 about 150 pages of native text with interlinear translation were re- 

 corded, and 134 pages previously procured from an Alabama Indian 

 in Texas were corrected. 



Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, ethnologist, at the beginning of March went 

 to Canada for the purpose of continuing his Iroquois studies. Estab- 

 lishing headquarters at Brantford, Ontario, he at once undertook the 

 work of revising the extended texts relating to the Iroquois League, 

 recorded during former field trips. Shortly thereafter this work 

 was interrupted when Mr. Hewitt was selected as an official delegate 

 from the Council of the Six Nations to attend a condolence and 

 installation ceremony at Muncietown, in which he took a leading 

 part, requiring the intoning of an address of comforting in the 

 Onondaga language and also in acting the part of the Seneca chiefs 

 in such a council. This official recognition gave Mr. Hewitt the rare 

 opportunity of observing how such a ceremony is conducted from 

 an esoteric point of view. 



On returning to Brantford, March 16, Mr. Hewitt resumed work 

 on the texts pertaining to the league, which necessitated the reading 

 of the words and the immediate context several times to determine 

 their final form. Moreover, it was desirable to read the texts over 

 with every informant separately in order to obtain a full expression 

 of the informant's knowledge or criticism of the work of another. 

 In this manner it was possible to study about 70 per cent of the 

 texts, and this led, naturally, to the collection of other corrective or , 

 amplifying texts and notes. These aggregate 502 pages, comprising 

 42 topics, recorded from rituals received by Shaman Joshua Buck 

 and Chief Abram Charles. In addition, Mr. Hewitt recorded in 

 English translation three traditions, comprising 45 pages, purporting 

 to relate events and to express ideas alleged to have led to the found- 

 ing of the League of the Iroquois, showing naively the birth of the 

 idea of human brotherhood and fellowhood in contradistinction to 

 mere local tribalism. 



Mr. Hewitt also made important discoveries regarding Iroquois 

 social organization, namely, that certain so-called clans do not exist 

 outside of the names used to designate them. For instance, the 



