Under this heading are comprised—
First, the systematic operations of the division of mound
exploration carried on east of the Rocky Mountains.
Secondly, researches in and collections from the ancient
ruins of the Southwest and comparative study of the present
inhabitants of that region and the objects found among
them.
Thirdly, linguistic work or expeditions among the several
Indian tribes at their homes, with the main purpose of acquiring
knowledge of their spoken languages.
Fourthly, general studies, or those embracing various
branches of inquiry, conducted among the existing Indian
tribes.
The work of exploring the mounds and other ancient monuments
of that portion of the United States east of the Rocky
Mountains, commenced in 1882, was carried on during the
fiscal year, under the charge of Prof. Cyrus Thomas.
The regular assistants during the first half of the year were
Messrs. P.W. Norris, James D. Middleton, and John P. Rogan.
For the latter half they were Messrs. Middleton, Rogan,
and John W. Emmert, the last named having been engaged
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Norris.
Mr. Norris was engaged during the fall of 1884 in exploring
the extensive group of works in the vicinity of Charleston,
Kanawha Valley, W. Va. He continued at work there
until December, when he was compelled by cold weather and
illness to desist. To the great regret of all his associates in
the work, his illness terminated in death on the 14th of January,
1885. By his death the division has lost a faithful and
enthusiastic worker.
XXVIIDuring the summer and fall of 1884 and until the approach
of extremely cold weather, Mr. Middleton was engaged in exploring
the works of Knox County, Ohio. Throughout the
winter and following spring his field of operations was eastern
Arkansas. In the latter field he was assisted by Mr. L. H.
Thing, who was employed for three months as temporary assistant.
During the summer and until the beginning of winter, Mr.
Rogan was engaged (in conjunction with Rev. J. P. Maclean,
who was employed as a temporary assistant) in exploring the
ancient monuments of Butler County and the adjacent regions
of southern Ohio. On the approach of the cold season he
went south, his field of operations for the remainder of the
year being northern Georgia and the southern counties of
East Tennessee.
Mr. Emmert, who had been employed on January 1, 1885, to
make some special explorations in East Tennessee, was made
permanent assistant immediately after the death of Mr. Norris.
His work in that section proving successful he continued
it until the close of the fiscal year.
Mr. Gerard Fowke was engaged during November in examining
the ancient quarries of Flint Ridge, Ohio, and in
making a collection to illustrate the various stages in the aboriginal
manufacture of flint implements. His collection is,
perhaps, the most complete in this particular line of any so
far made in this country. In the winter he was employed
about two months in special investigations of some ancient
works in Pontotoc and Union Counties, Miss., a locality supposed
to have been visited by De Soto during his unfortunate
expedition. In some of the mounds of this section, which was
formerly the home of the Chikasa, he found some articles of
European manufacture, among them a small silver plate bearing
the royal arms of Castile and Leon in an old heraldic form.
Although the number of specimens obtained does not exceed
that of the collection of the preceding year, the general result
shows a decided advance in the accuracy of the work done.
The measurements and plats have been made with more care
and exactness, the descriptions are more complete, and the details
XXVIIImore fully set forth. As an illustration one case is presented.
A large mound was opened which was found to contain
over ninety skeletons, irregularly placed and at different
depths. At the outset a plat of the mound was made; each skeleton
was located on it as discovered, and notes were taken of
the depth, position, articles found with it, etc. Thus the exact
position of each skeleton in the mound is recorded, as well as
that of any article accompanying it. The collections made are
more varied in character than those of any previous year, including
several new types of pottery, some unusually fine stone
implements, and from several mounds articles showing contact
with Europeans. The pottery obtained by Messrs. Middleton
and Thing in Arkansas is of more than ordinary interest, containing
a number of specimens of the rarer forms, also several
colored specimens.
The same care has been taken as heretofore in labeling and
numbering the specimens, so that each can be traced by the
record to the exact place where it was found. The illustrations
showing the construction, character, and form of the
various works explored exceed in number, accuracy, and importance
those of any previous year.
Mr. James Stevenson was placed in charge of a party, with
instructions to proceed to Arizona and New Mexico to make
researches and collections among the Pueblo Indians and the
ancient ruins in that region.
Mr. Stevenson's party was divided into three sections. The
section in charge of Mr. F. T. Bickford visited the remarkable
series of ruins in Chaco cañon, in northwestern New Mexico;
Cañon de Chelly and its branch cañons; the cliff dwellings in
Walnut cañon, in Arizona, and a group of interesting cave
dwellings, different in structure from any heretofore found, near
Flagstaff, in the same Territory. All these were carefully examined.
Full and extensive notes, as well as sketches and
photographic illustrations, were made of these ruins.
XXIXAnother section, in charge of Mr. C. A. Garlick, was stationed
at the pueblo of Acoma, in New Mexico. The work at this village
resulted in a collection of about thirty-five hundred specimens,
consisting of pottery and a variety of utensils of other
material, such as stone, bone, wood, and woven fabrics, illustrating
the arts of the people of Acoma. The collections from
this pueblo, though not embracing a great variety of objects,
will illustrate nearly all the phases of the arts and industrial
pursuits of these Indians.
Another section of Mr. Stevenson's party, under his own
supervision and with the important assistance of Mrs. Stevenson,
was employed in making collections and studies at
Zuñi. The collection from there is much larger than any heretofore
obtained and includes many objects relating to the outdoor
ceremonies of the Zuñi. Specimens of these were secured
from their sacred springs, caves, and shrines. All details relating
to their ceremonials were attentively studied, and a
series of water color sketches was made of altars used and of
masks worn on these important occasions. A large number of
fetiches was also obtained, representing many of the animals
held in religious esteem by the Zuñi. A series of photographs
was made of the sacred springs, wells, monuments, picture
writings, and shrines of the Zuñi located at different points
over an area of about seventy-five miles from Zuñi, and a collection
was secured of representative specimens of their fetiches,
plume sticks, and other objects connected with their mythology
and religious practices. The collection made during the year
was unusually large and important. It comprises about eighty-five
hundred specimens from the Indian tribes of the Southwest
embraced in the research; these consist of woven fabrics and
pottery, bone, and stone implements, both ancient and modern,
and represent nearly all phases of the life, art, and industries
of these tribes. These collections have been deposited in the
U. S. National Museum for arrangement, classification, and description.
A party in charge of Mr. Victor Mindeleff left Washington
on August 5 to survey the ruined pueblos of the Chaco, in New
XXXMexico. Five of the ruins were accurately measured and
platted to scale, and a full series of sketches, plans, and photographs
was secured. Mr. Mindeleff returned from the field on
the 1st of October. He then made a trip to the great Etowah
mound, near Cartersville, Ga., under the direction of Prof.
Cyrus Thomas, in order to secure an accurate survey and scale
drawing, as a basis for the construction of a model.
At the close of this work Mr. Mindeleff returned to Washington,
on October 7, and was engaged in office work until the
middle of the following June, when he took the field in advance
of his party for further studies among the ruins and
pueblos of the Cibola and Tusayan groups. He was also instructed
to secure similar material at other available points for
comparison.
From the 1st of July to the 15th of August, 1884, Mrs.
Smith, assisted by Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, of Tuscarora descent,
was engaged among the Onondaga living near Syracuse, N. Y.,
in translating and annotating two Onondaga manuscripts; afterward,
until the latter part of October, with the same assistance,
she was at work on the Grand River reservation in Canada,
where she filled out the vocabulary in the Introduction to the
Study of Indian Languages from the dialect of the Cayuga.
She also obtained from the Mohawk a translation, with annotations,
of a manuscript in their dialect.
The three manuscripts mentioned are now in the possession
of the Bureau of Ethnology. Their origin and history are not
distinctly known, as they are all probably copies of originals
which seem to have been lost or destroyed. It was intended
in these manuscripts to reproduce, by the alphabet and the
script used by English writers, the sound of the dialects employed.
These records have their chief interest in the preservation of
many archaic words, or those of ceremony, law, and custom,
which in these dialects, as is the general rule, remain unchanged,
although the colloquial language may be modified.
XXXIThe subject matter of all these records is genuinely and exclusively
Iroquoian.
The Mohawk manuscript was copied about the year 1830
by Chief John "Smoke" Johnson from an earlier original or
perhaps copy. The orthography of this copy is quite regular
and is that of the early English missionaries, being similar in
many respects to the well known Pickering alphabet.
One of the Onondaga manuscripts was found in the possession
of Mr. Daniel La Fort and the other in that of Mrs. John
A. Jones, both of the Onondaga reserve, New York. These
two copies differ from each other in orthography and substance,
the Jones manuscript being probably a full detail of a part of
the other.
The orthography of the La Fort manuscript is very irregular
and difficult to read, but that of the Jones manuscript is
regular and legible. The Mohawk manuscript contains a detailed
account of the rites and ceremonies, speeches and songs,
of the condoling and inducting council of the Iroquoian League
in the form in which that council was conducted by the elder
brothers or members of the Onondaga, Mohawk, and Seneca
divisions, which have been generally called tribes, but are
more correctly confederacies, their villages being the tribal
unit. The La Fort Onondaga manuscript comprises a similar
ritual of the same council as carried out by the younger
brothers, viz., the Cayuga, Oneida, and Tuscarora members or
confederacies of the league. The Jones Onondaga manuscript
is the charge of the principal shaman to the newly elected or
inducted chief or chiefs.
During the remainder of the year material was collected and
work continued on the Tuscarora-English part of the Tuscarora
dictionary.
Mr. H. W. Henshaw visited southern California for the purpose
of pursuing linguistic studies in the group of languages
spoken by the Santa Barbara Indians. Although these Indians
became known at a very early day, being mentioned
with particularity in the relation of Cabrillo's voyage along
XXXIIthe California coast in 1542, but little has been ascertained in
respect to their language and its relations to the speech of
neighboring tribes.
Few vocabularies were collected by the early Spanish missionaries
and those gathered were very imperfect, so that no
conclusions can be based upon them with confidence.
As a result of the policy pursued by the various missionaries
among these docile tribes, aboriginal habits were soon exchanged
for others imposed by the priests. Tribal organizations
were broken up and the Indians were removed from their
homes and located about the missions. In addition the Spanish
language was early introduced and so far as possible made
to replace the aboriginal tongue. As a consequence Spanish
became familiar to a large number of the proselytes, and all
the surviving Santa Barbara Indians speak Spanish fluently,
or rather the Mexican dialect of Spanish. Indeed, the impression
prevails generally in California that none of the Indians
can speak their own tongue. As a matter of fact, however,
in their own families and when away from the white men
they discard Spanish entirely.
The attempt to preserve the language was begun none too
soon, as of the large population attributed to this part of the
California coast Mr. Henshaw was able to discover only about
fifty survivors, and these were widely scattered over several
counties. A number of the dialects of the linguistic family
are now extinct, and only a month before Mr. Henshaw's
arrival at San Buenaventura an old woman died who, it is
believed, was the last person to speak the dialect belonging
to the Island of Santa Cruz. In Santa Barbara and Ventura
counties six dialects of the family were found, which are believed
to be all that are now extant.
In the case of the dialect of Santa Rosa island, but one Indian
remained to speak it. Two more dialects are spoken by two or
three individuals only. The existing dialects, named according
to the missions around which they were spoken, are as
follows: San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa Island,
Purissima, Santa Inez, and San Luis Obispo. With the exception
of the last named the several dialects are very closely
XXXIIIrelated, and, although each possesses a greater or less number
of words not contained in the others, their vocabularies show
many words which are common to all.
The dialect formerly spoken at San Luis Obispo differs much
from any of the others, and a critical comparison is necessary
to reveal a sufficient number of words possessing identical roots
to render their common parentage obvious.
Extensive vocabularies of the dialects of San Antonio and
San Miguel were obtained, there being about a dozen Indians
who speak these languages around the old San Antonio mission.
These languages have been supposed to be of the Santa
Barbara family (as it has hitherto been termed, now called
Chumashan family), but the material obtained by Mr. Henshaw
disproves this, and, for the present at least, they are considered
to form a distinct family.
Mr. Henshaw visited Los Angeles and San Diego counties
for the purpose of determining the exact northern and southern
limits of the Shoshonian family, which extends quite to the
coast in California.
At San Diego and San Luis Rey he obtained vocabularies
representing four dialects of the Yuman family.
In August, 1884, Mr. Gatschet proceeded to visit the Tonkawē
and Lipan tribes in Texas.
He reached Fort Griffin on the 29th of August. The
Tonkawē tribe was encamped about a mile and a half south of
Fort Griffin, Shackleford county, and consisted of 78 individuals,
while the Lipan camp, one mile north-northwest, consisted
of 19 persons only. All these Indians were on the point of removing
to the Oakland reserve, Indian Territory.
The Tonkawē constitute an aggregate of several tribal
remnants formerly living independently of one another in
southern Texas and on the Rio Grande. Mr. Gatschet devoted
five weeks to the study of their language and one week to
that of the Lipan, which is a dialect of Apache (Athapascan).
XXXIVThe Tonkawē is a sonorous and energetic form of speech. The
radix of many of the adjectives becomes reduplicated to form a
kind of plural, and the same thing is observed in some of the
verbs, where iteration or frequency has to be indicated. Case
suffixes are observed in the substantive, which can easily be
traced to postpositions as their original forms. Very few of the
natives were sufficiently conversant with English or Spanish
to serve as interpreters, so that it was difficult to secure trustworthy
results. A white man who had lived over six years
among them was of material help, and several mythologic and
other texts were obtained with tolerable correctness through his
aid.
On October 9 Mr. Gatschet left Fort Griffin and reached
Fort Sill, in the Indian Territory, on the 15th. Many Kaiowē
and Comanche Indians encamped during the warmer months
of the year around this fort, which is situated at the southeast
base of the Wichita mountains. He engaged the best help he
could find for studying the Kaiowē language, for which there
is no Government interpreter. The Comanche is the predominating
language on the whole Kaiowē, Comanche, and Apache
reservation, although the Comanche exceed the Kaiowē but
little in number. The Comanche is more easily acquired, at
least to the extent required in conversation, and all the traders
and shopkeepers on the reservation have a smattering of it.
Better interpreters for Kaiowē were obtained at Anadarko,
the seat of the agency, where Mr. Gatschet remained from
October 31 to December 12. A few Kaiowē were found who
had passed some months or years among Americans or at the
Indian schools at Carlisle, Chilocco, and elsewhere, and could
express themselves intelligibly in English. A few white Mexicans
were found among the Comanche, who were captured by
them in infancy, acquired the Comanche language, and have
ever since lived among these Indians. Of the Kaiowē, Mr.
Gatschet acquired over two thousand terms, phrases, and sentences,
several historic texts of value, and of the Comanche,
eight hundred or a thousand words. The circumstances necessitated
careful and numerous revisions of everything obtained,
by which much of the time was absorbed.
XXXVThe Na-ishi Apache, about four hundred in number and
formerly roaming with the Kaiowē, furnished also a large
amount of terms, exceeding fifteen hundred.
There are a few verbal similarities between the Kaiowē and
the Shoshoni languages, but apparently not enough to indicate
anything more than long association of these peoples. The
Kaiowē has a dual in the intransitive verb and in some nouns.
There are more than a dozen different modes of forming the
plural of nouns. The subject pronoun is incorporated with
the verb as a prefix, and every tense has a different subject
pronoun, as in Otomi and other languages of southern Mexico.
Vocabularies were also obtained of Delaware, Ottawa, Yuchi,
Caddo, Wichita, and of the hitherto unstudied Caddo dialects
of Anadarko and Yatassi.
In spite of persevering search it was not possible to find any
of the Bidai or the Tonica in Texas, although it is probable
that some of them survived in that State as late as 1850.
Mr. Gatschet then passed a whole month among the Atakapa
at Lake Charles, the county seat of Calcasieu parish,
Louisiana. Of the two dialects traceable, only the western one
seems to exist now, being still spoken by a few women living
at the town. The language is sonorous, but strongly nasal.
Returning to the Indian Territory, after a fruitless search for
the Tonica and Adai, he stopped at Eufaula, Creek Nation, to
meet a Na'htchi Indian named Lasley, about sixty years old,
who had represented his tribe in the councils of the Creek
Nation. This man explained his Na'htchi terms and phrases by
Creek equivalents, and these had to be translated into English
to obtain full light concerning the Na'htchi terms. One legendary
text was also obtained. The language is rather consonantal
and has a multiplicity of verbal forms.
Among the Yuchi tribe on Middle Arkansas river, southwestern
bank, and over 40 miles from Muscogee Station, Indian
Territory, he remained but a week, too short a time to obtain
full information respecting this interesting language. There
are five or six hundred Yuchi still living on this tract. Two
texts and a few popular songs, with one thousand terms of the
language, were obtained.
XXXVIThe last stop was made among the Modoc at Quapaw
Agency, at the agency buildings. About ninety are left of
those brought there for having taken part in the Modoc war of
1872-'73. Five mythic tales were gathered from the natives
within the short time of three weeks, one of them being of
considerable length and of importance. It is called "The birth
of Aishish." The birth of this astral deity resembles in most
particulars that of Bacchus from the thigh of Jupiter after his
mother, Semele, had been burned to death. The terms, phrases,
and sentences gathered, besides the myth mentioned, amount
to over fifteen hundred items, which will prove useful for completing
the work on the Klamath Indians of Oregon now in
preparation.
Of the Shawnee language several hundred words were
gathered from the Indians of that tribe settled around the
agency.
Mr. Gatschet returned to Washington in April, 1885.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey visited the Siletz Agency, Oregon, in
August, 1884, to gain linguistic and other information respecting
the tribes in that region. When he returned, in November,
he brought back as the result of his work the following
vocabularies:—Athapascan family: Applegate Creek, Galice
Creek, Chastā Costa, Miko-no-tunne, Chetco, Smith River,
Cal., and Upper Coquille.—Yakonan family: Yaquina, Alsea,
Siuslaw, and Lower Umpqua.—Kusan family: Mulluk or Lower
Coquille.—Takilman family: Takilma or Upper Rogue River.—Shahaptian
family: Klikitat.—Sastean family: Shasti—total,
nineteen vocabularies, ranging from fifty to three thousand
entries, exclusive of phrases and grammatical notes.
He also obtained materials for an account of the social organization
into villages of some of these Indians, the basis for
which appears to have been the clan or gens. Rough maps,
showing the localities of the villages, were made. Mr. Dorsey
also obtained from several tribes the corresponding Indian
names of about sixty vegetal products, specimens of which
were brought to Washington for identification.
XXXVII
Mr. Curtin spent the first two weeks of July at the Quapaw
agency, Indian Territory, in making a collection of Modoc
myths, which he had begun in the preceding winter, being part
of a general collection of Indian myths begun in 1883. The
number of Modoc myths obtained was nearly one hundred.
After finishing work at the Quapaw Agency, he returned to
Washington, and shortly afterward was directed to proceed to
northern California and obtain vocabularies of the Nosa and
Kombo languages, and thence to Oregon to obtain vocabularies
of the Wasco, Tyigh, and Tenina languages.
Work was begun on the Nosa language (Yanan family) at
Redding, Cal., on October 11. The difficulties were very
great, especially at first, owing to the fact that the Nosa are
few in number, live far from one another, and have a very
imperfect knowledge of English.
The Nosa were a prominent and rather numerous people
until 1864, when all of them who could be found were massacred
by white settlers, who organized two companies for the
purpose of exterminating the tribe. Owing to a chance by
which a few escaped and to the exertions of Mr. Benjamin
Oliver, who secreted several in his cellar, about fifteen full
blood Nosa survived.
Work on Nosa was continued in and around Redding until
the end of November, when Round Mountain was visited to
complete the Nosa vocabulary and obtain that of the Atsugei
(Palaikan family), a very interesting language. Work at
Round Mountain was finished on January 8 and Redding was
revisited on January 9, preparatory to departing for Oregon.
Owing to the excessive severity of the winter and the snow
blockades, which lasted six weeks, communication with Warm
Spring was closed, and it was impossible to enter the reservation
till January 27, when Sinnashee, a school and center of
the Warm Spring Indian population, was reached.
At this place the Tyigh vocabulary (Shahaptian family) was
collected. The Wasco (Chinookan family) was obtained at
the agency headquarters near the Deschutes river. Tenina,
XXXVIIIbeing identical with the Tyigh language, was omitted. From
April 18, at which date work at the Warm Spring agency was
finished, until June 30, the time was devoted to collecting myths
in the Klamath reservation and at Yreka.
During the whole period of work all the myths that could
be found among the people whose languages were being investigated
were reduced to writing. In this manner a large
body of Nosa, Atsugei, Tyigh, and Wasco myths was collected.
In the cases of Klamath and Shasti, myths were the
objects directly in view.
The vocabularies were obtained with satisfactory completeness
and the verbal systems worked out in detail.
The Nosa is remarkable for a regularity of structure which
yields to analysis and has a certain monotonous harmony of
sound.
The Atsugei has a sonorous roll, a strong letter r, and a
certain number of words in common with the Shasti, itself
one of the r languages.
Dr. Washington Matthews, assistant surgeon U. S. Army,
continued his investigations among the Navajo Indians in New
Mexico and Arizona. He had been stationed in the Navajo
country as post surgeon of Fort Wingate, N. Mex., from 1880
to 1884, during which time he devoted himself to studying the
language, customs, and ceremonies of this tribe as much as his
official duties would permit. Some of the great shamanistic
ceremonies of the Navajo, occupying nine days for their performance,
he had often seen in part; but he had never had an
opportunity of witnessing one throughout its entire duration,
as he had not sufficient time at his disposal.
Before leaving New Mexico, however, he secured the friendship
and confidence of some of the leading medicine men and
obtained their promise to admit him to their most secret rites
during their entire performance whenever he should be able
to avail himself of the privilege. He was also promised complete
XXXIXinstruction in the mythology and symbolism of these
rites.
In the autumn of 1884 he was given an opportunity, under
the auspices of the Bureau of Ethnology, to return to the Navajo
country and devote himself for a considerable time entirely
to anthropologic studies among the people.
He first visited the Navajo who dwell in the neighborhood
of the San Mateo mountains, the Tsotsildinè, or people of the
Great Peak, a local division or subtribe living much farther to
the east and having longer and more intimate associations with
Mexicans and Americans than the main body of the people.
While at this place, he ascended the peak of San Mateo, or
Mount Taylor, a mountain held sacred by the Navajo, to observe
the various places on the mountain mentioned in the
Navajo myths.
Leaving San Mateo he proceeded to Fort Wingate, and
learning that one of the most important of the Navajo rites
was about to be celebrated at a place called Niqotlizi (Hard
Earth), north of Fort Wingate on the Navajo reservation, he repaired
thither without delay. The ceremony which he went to
witness was that of dsilyídje-qaçàl, or mountain chant. It is also
called Ilnasjingo-qaçàl, or chant in the dark circle of branches,
from the great corral of evergreens in which the public rites of
the last night are performed. It is known to the white men
who live among these Indians as the hoshkawn dance, from
one of the public dances of the last night, in which the Indian
jugglers pretend to grow and develop the hackàn, or Yucca baccata.
This last night's performance is varied and interesting
and all persons, including whites and Indians of other tribes,
are permitted to witness it; but previously, for several days,
mystic rites are celebrated in the medicine lodge, to the most
of which only the initiated are admitted. Dr. Matthews remained
ten days in the Indian camp at Niqotlizi, during which
time the shamans admitted him into their medicine lodge and
allowed him to observe their rites and practices.
His most interesting discovery on this occasion was that of
their system of mythic dry paintings, by which they represent
XLvarious legends or traditions with dry pigments on the sanded
floor of the medicine lodge. A full account of the ceremonies
and of the myth on which they are based was prepared by Dr.
Matthews and appeared in the Fifth Annual Report of this
Bureau.
When the ceremony at Niqotlizi was over he proceeded to
a locality in Arizona called by the whites The Haystacks,
from the peculiar appearance of the rock formations there.
At The Haystacks another great ceremony, probably the second
in importance of the Navajo rites, was to take place.
Here he again encamped with the Indians and remained until
the work of the shamans was done.
The ceremonial observances witnessed on this occasion are,
collectively, called by the Navajo Klèdji-qaçàl, or chant of the
night. They are called by the whites the Yàybichy dance,
from the name of the principal masked character, Yèbitcai or
Gebitcai, the granduncle of the gods. Like the hoshkawn
dance, it has several days of secret rites with elaborate symbolic
sand pictures and one night of public dances, less varied
and interesting than those of the hoshkawn. Dr. Matthews
was permitted to witness the whole performance and to take
as many notes and sketches as were necessary.
From The Haystacks Dr. Matthews went to the Indian
agency at Fort Defiance, Arizona, where he secured the services
of one of the oldest and most learned (in their own peculiar
lore) of the Navajo priests, and from him he obtained full
explanations of all these rites and of the symbolism of the
pictures and masked characters, with a complete recital of the
long and elaborate myths on which the ceremonies depend, and
the texts and translations of the very numerous songs which
form the ritual of the ceremonies.
Dr. H. C. Yarrow, acting assistant surgeon U. S. Army,
with the assistance of military details and supplies, in addition
to the instruction and facilities provided by this Bureau,
started, August 8, 1884, on an expedition into the Territory of
XLIUtah, with reference mainly to the exploration of burial mounds
and the study of mortuary customs.
Near Choke Cherry Spring a burial cave was discovered,
containing the skeletons of three persons, which were secured.
Other skeletons, with contents of graves, were obtained near
Willow creek; also, an interesting specimen of tree burial.
At Deep creek an explanation of the curious form of water
burial was gained from a chief of the Gosiats, to the effect that
the bodies of the turbulent and disorderly men of the tribe
were thus disposed of to prevent the spirits of these objectionable
persons from joining the rest of the tribe after death.
Their bodies were sunk in springs and marshy places and kept
down by sticks and stones, so that their spirits could never get
out.
In the neighborhood of Fillmore a mound was excavated
which afforded an admirable example of the beforementioned
conversion of a dwelling into a sepulcher. The probability is
that the deceased died in his house, which was made of adobe
bricks, and that it was at once abandoned and the body left
therein, the roof being first removed. The corpse was placed
on the floor and covered with a paste of moist clay, on which
were placed the mortuary gifts of weapons, utensils, and food.
Cottonwood branches were then piled above and set on fire,
thus baking the clay crust and charring the several objects.
The whole structure had been covered, so that on first examination
the hard surface of burnt clay, 18 inches below the loose
earth, appeared to be the floor of a former dwelling.
In the whole of the expedition, which continued into the
last days of September, much difficulty was experienced from
the suspicion and consequent hostility of the Indians of the
localities visited.
Dr. W. J. Hoffman proceeded early in August to Victoria,
B. C., where numerous sketches of Haida totem posts and
carvings were obtained, in connection with the myths which
they illustrated. At this locality attention was paid to the
XLIIburial customs and osteologic remains of the nearly extinct
tribe of Songish Indians.
At Port Townsend sketches were obtained of Thlinkit
ivory and wood carvings, clearly indicating the adoption by
that tribe of Haida art designs. Here, too, many Indians of
British-American tribes were met on their way south to work
in the Puyallup hop fields, notable among which was a large
number of Haida, whose persons were examined for the purpose
of copying the numerous and varied tattoo designs with which
they were profusely decorated. Interpretations of many of
these characters were obtained from the persons bearing them,
as well as from the chief artist of the tribe, together with concise
descriptions of the methods and customs in connection
with tattooing and the materials used. Drawings were made
of a collection of Eskimo pictographs and ivory carvings at
the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company and the California
Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Cal.
At Santa Barbara, Cal., Dr. Hoffman discovered some painted
pictographs and examined a number which have not yet been
published. In several private collections at this place were
found interesting relics of the Indians formerly inhabiting Santa
Cruz island, the most important of which was a steatite cup
containing earthy coloring matter and pricking instruments of
bone, which had evidently been used in tattooing. Painted
pictographs were also visited in the Azuza cañon, twenty-five
miles northeast of Los Angeles.
At Tule Indian Agency, in the deep valleys on the western
slope of the Sierra Nevada, sketches of pictographs were
made in continuation of work accomplished there two years
before. Vocabularies were also obtained from the Waitchumni
Indians here located, as well as from the few remaining Santa
Barbara Indians at Cathedral Oaks, Santa Barbara county,
Cal. By far the greatest amount of pictographic material was
collected in Owen's valley, California, where series of petroglyphs
are scattered over an arid, sandy desert, the extremes
of which are more than twenty miles apart.
![[Illustration]](https://openoldbooks.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/books/sixth-annual-report-of-the-bureau-of-ethnology-to-the-secretary-of-the-smithsoni/images/titlepage.jpg)
![[Illustration]](https://openoldbooks.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/books/sixth-annual-report-of-the-bureau-of-ethnology-to-the-secretary-of-the-smithsoni/images/signature.jpg)