REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 45 



ways among different tribes of the American aborigines ; among tbe Kiowa Indians 

 it is differentiated into a crude yet highly significant system of heraldry which 

 throws much light on the medieval heraldry of Europe; and in another direction it 

 is differentiated into a system of winter counts or calendars, forming at the same 

 time a chronologic system and an historical record which, although crude and imper- 

 fect, are of great interest. Among the same Indians the system of symbolism has 

 been differentiated in a third direction, though one nearly parallel with the first, in 

 such manner as to form a symbolic record of social organization and relation, this 

 part of the record being largely painted on the dressed-skin tents. Thus the sym- 

 bolism of the Kiowa Indians elucidates the origin of several arts brought to perfec- 

 tion only among much more highly cultivated people ; it represents a crude heraldry, 

 a budding cronology, a nascent decorative art, and the germ of writing. 



Although remaining in the field, Mr. Mooney made considerable progress during 

 tbe fiscal year in the preparation of a memoir on the Kiowa calendar, though the 

 manuscript will require revision as his studies approach maturity, after his return 

 to the office. 



Office Work, 

 archeology. 



Prof. W. H. Holmes, Avho retired from the Bureau before the beginning of the fiscal 

 year, left two reports nearly ready for publication; one of these relates to the stone 

 art of the aborigines as exemplified and elucidated by the relics found in and near 

 the tide-water region adjacent to Chesapeake Bay; the second to the fictile art as 

 represented by collections from eastern United States, especially from the mounds. 

 While both reports were substantially complete as to letterpress, they were incom- 

 plete as to illustrations, and the preparation of requisite illustrations was carried 

 forward under the supervision of the ethnologist in charge and Mr. DeLancey W. 

 Gill. During July a number of photographs were made, for incorporation in the 

 memoir on stone art, by Mr. Cushing and Mr. William Dinwiddie. When the illus- 

 trations were completed the memoir was incorporated in the Fifteenth Annual 

 Report of the Bureau, which was sent to press during the year. 



During portions of July and August Mr. Dinwiddie was engaged in the elabora- 

 tion of notes on a remarkable steatite quarry near Clifton, Va., and in the transfer 

 of the collections to the National Museum. The Clifton quarry is one of the largest 

 of the aboriginal excavations of soapstone thus far found in eastern United States, 

 and is noteworthy for the depth of the cutting and the large amount of fragmentary 

 and other material representing the processes of primitive quarrymen. Mr. Din- 

 widdie's work on this material was interrupted when he joined the expedition into 

 the Papago country, and his report has not been completed. 



Mr. Cosmos Mindeleff, who returned from the field about the end of September, 

 was occupied during the greater part of October in closing his accounts and in other 

 duties connected with the termination of long continued field operations. After- 

 wards he began the preparation of a report on his surveys and researches. During 

 November, December, and January the material was reduced to the form of a memoir 

 on the cliff ruins of Canyon de Chelly. In February a preliminary draft of the text 

 was brought to substantial completion, and the later portion of March was spent 

 chiefly in the preparation of illustrations. During March and April the text was 

 revised and rewritten, and toward the end of the latter month it Avas submitted for 

 publication. The preparation of the final drawings for the illustrations was also 

 substantially completed, and in June the memoir was assigned for publication in the 

 Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau. 



Mr. Mindeleff's surveys recorded in his report on Canyon de Chelly were both 

 extended and detailed, and have yielded a large body of especially trustworthy data 

 relating to this interesting portion of the continent. In a large number of cases he 

 made diagrams showing the ground plans of structure, based on careful measure- 



