REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 49 



provisions of the law for the preservation of antiquities, to pass upon various 

 applications for permits to explore among the antiquities of the public domain, 

 and to furnish data needful in the selection of the archeological sites to be set 

 aside as national monuments. In addition he was able to give some attention 

 to carrying forward the systematic study of aboriginal technology and art, on 

 which he has been engaged for several years, as occasion offered. 



At the beginning of the year Mrs. M. C. Stevenson, ethnologist, was in the 

 Indian village of Taos, New Mexico, continuing her studies of the arts, habits, 

 customs, and language of this tribe begun during the previous year. Although 

 the field was new and the traditional conservatism of the tribe made investiga- 

 tion in certain directions difficult or impossible, much progress was made, and, 

 when the work is completed, results of exceptional value will doubtless have 

 been obtained. 



In November Mrs. Stevenson visited Santa Clara pueblo for the purpose of 

 making studies of the people and their culture for comparative purposes, and 

 observations were made of the social customs and religious observances of the 

 people. Afterwards, several days were spent in Santa Fe, examining the old 

 Spanish records preserved in the archives of the Historical Society of New 

 Mexico, with the view of learning something of the early relations of the local 

 tribes with the Spanish invaders and with their Spanish-speaking neighbors of 

 later times. Late in November Mrs. Stevenson visited the pueblo of Zuni, the 

 site of her former extended researches, and spent some weeks in completing 

 her studies on certain phases of the native ritual and worship, on religious sym- 

 bolism as embodied in pictography and ceramic and textile decoration, and in 

 the revision of her list of plants employed for food, medicine, and dyes. Numer- 

 ous photographs and sketches of ceremonials and ceremonial objects were made. 

 A number of changes were noted in the dramas and other ceremonies since her 

 last visit, and Zuni, heretofore presenting at night the quiet somberness of an 

 aboriginal village, has now, when the dusk falls, the appearance of an eastern 

 town, with many lighted windows. Mrs. Stevenson notes that changes are 

 creeping steadily into all the pueblos, Taos perhaps excepted, and is led to 

 express the earnest hope that the work of investigating the town-building tribes 

 of the Southwest be carried forward with all possible energy. 



On April 1 Mrs. Stevenson returned to the office, where, during the remainder 

 of the year, she has been engaged in the preparation of reports on her field 

 researches. 



Dr. Cyrus Thomas, ethnologist, has been employed the greater portion of the 

 year in assisting Mr. Hodge on the Handbook of American Indians, not only in 

 the preparation of separate articles, but also in assisting the editor on certain 

 lines of proof reading relating to omissions, uniformity in names, etc. Such 

 time as could be spared from these duties was devoted to the preparation of a 

 Catalogue of Books and Papers relating to the Hawaiian Islands. For this pur- 

 pose the Congressional and other libraries in Washington were consulted and a 

 short trip to Worcester and Boston, Massachusetts, was made for the purpose 

 of examining the libraries of those cities, which are the chief depositories in the 

 United States of the early publications of the missionaries in Hawaii. The 

 number of titles so far obtained is about 2,000. Doctor Thomas assisted 

 also with the official correspondence on subjects with which he is particularly 

 familiar, his attainments as a student of ancient Mexican writings having 

 proved of special value in the examination of certain manuscripts in the 

 Cakchikel language submitted by the Librarian of the American Philosophical 

 Society of Philadelphia. 



