Seneca Fiction, Legends, and Myths

THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

1910–1911

WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1918

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL✦

Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C., August 17, 1911.

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith the Thirty-second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, comprising an account of the operations of the bureau during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911.

Permit me to express my appreciation of your aid in the work under my charge.

Very respectfully, yours,

F. W. Hodge, Ethnologist-in-Charge.

Dr. Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

CONTENTS

REPORT OF THE ETHNOLOGIST-IN-CHARGE

Page Systematic researches 9 Special researches 24 Publications 29 Illustrations 30 Library 31 Property 32 Recommendations 32

ACCOMPANYING PAPER

Seneca Fiction, Legends, and Myths; collected by Jeremiah Curtin and J. N. B. Hewitt; edited by J. N. B. Hewitt 37

Index 815

THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

F. W. Hodge, Ethnologist-in-Charge

The operations of the Bureau of American Ethnology for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, conducted in accordance with the provisions of the act of Congress approved June 25, 1910, authorizing the continuation of ethnological researches among the American Indians and the natives of Hawaii, under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, were carried forward in accordance with the plan of operation approved by the Secretary June 15, 1910.

SYSTEMATIC RESEARCHES

The systematic ethnological researches of the bureau were continued during the year with the regular scientific staff, consisting of nine ethnologists, as follows: Mr. F. W. Hodge, ethnologist-in-charge; Mr. James Mooney, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, Dr. John R. Swanton, Dr. Truman Michelson, Dr. Paul Radin, and Mr. Francis La Flesche. In addition, the services of several specialists in their respective fields were enlisted for special work, as follows:

Dr. Franz Boas, honorary philologist, with several assistants, for research in connection with the preparation and publication of the Handbook of American Indian Languages.

Miss Alice C. Fletcher and Mr. Francis La Flesche, for the final revision of the proofs of their monograph on the Omaha Indians for publication in the Twenty-seventh Annual Report.

Miss Frances Densmore, for researches in Indian music.

Mr. J. P. Dunn, for studies of the tribes of the Middle West.

Mr. John P. Harrington, for researches among the Mohave Indians of the Colorado Valley.

Rev. Dr. George P. Donehoo, for investigations in the history, geography, and ethnology of the tribes of Pennsylvania for incorporation in the Handbook of American Indians.

Mr. William R. Gerard, for studies of the etymology of Algonquian place and tribal names and of terms that have been incorporated in the English language, for use in the same work.

Prof. H. M. Ballou, for bibliographic research in connection with the compilation of the List of Works Relating to Hawaii.

Mr. James R. Murie, for researches pertaining to the ethnology of the Pawnee Indians.

The systematic ethnological researches by members of the regular staff of the bureau may be summarized as follows:

Mr. F. W. Hodge, ethnologist-in-charge, in addition to conducting the administrative work of the bureau, devoted attention, with the assistance of Mrs. Frances S. Nichols, to the final revision of the remaining proofs of part 2 of the Handbook of American Indians (Bulletin 30), which was published in January, 1911. This work met with so great popular demand that the edition of the two parts became exhausted immediately after publication, causing the bureau much embarrassment owing to the thousands of requests that it has not been possible to supply. To meet this need in part, the Senate, on May 12, adopted a concurrent resolution authorizing the reprinting of the entire handbook, and at the close of the fiscal year the resolution was under consideration by the Committee on Printing of the House of Representatives. The Superintendent of Documents has likewise been in receipt of many orders for the work, necessitating the reprinting of part 1 some months after its appearance, and about the close of the fiscal year another reprint of this part was contemplated. Much material for incorporation in a revised edition for future publication was prepared during the year, but lack of funds necessary for the employment of special assistants prevented the prosecution of this work as fully as was desired.

The bureau has been interested in and has conducted archeological explorations in the pueblo region of New Mexico and Arizona for many years. Since the establishment of the School of American Archæology in 1907, following the revival of interest in American archeology, by the Archæological Institute of America, that body likewise commenced systematic work in the archeology of that great region. In order to avoid duplication of effort, arrangements were made between the bureau and the school for conducting archeological investigations in cooperation, the expense of the field work to be borne equally, a moiety of the collections of the artifacts and all the skeletal remains to become the property of the National Museum, and the bureau to have the privilege of the publication of all scientific results.

Active work under this joint arrangement was commenced in the Rito de los Frijoles, northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in July, 1910, work having already been initiated there during the previous summer by the school independently, under the directorship of Dr. Edgar L. Hewett. In August, 1910, Mr. Hodge visited New Mexico for the purpose of participating in the work on the part of the bureau, and remained in the field for a month.

The great prehistoric site in the Rito de los Frijoles is characterized by an immense circular many-celled pueblo ruin, most of the stone walls of which are still standing to a height of several feet, and a series of cavate dwellings hewn in the soft tufa throughout several hundred yards of the northern wall of the canyon. Accompanying the great community ruin and also the cavate dwellings are underground kivas, or ceremonial chambers. In front of the cavate lodges were originally structures of masonry built against the cliff and forming front rooms, but practically the only remains of these are the foundation walls and the rafter holes in the cliff face. The débris covering these structures has been largely cleared away and the foundations exposed, and the walls of about two-thirds of the great pueblo structure in the valley have been bared by excavation. At the western extremity of the canyon, far up in the northern wall, is a natural cavern, known as Ceremonial Cave, in which are a large kiva, remarkably well preserved, and other interesting remains of aboriginal occupancy. This great archeological site in the Rito de los Frijoles is important to the elucidation of the problem of the early distribution of the Pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley, and there is reason to believe that when the researches are completed much light will be shed thereon. There is a paucity of artifacts in the habitations uncovered, aside from stone implements, of which large numbers have been found.

At the close of the work in the Rito de los Frijoles the joint expedition proceeded to the valley of the Jemez River, near the Hot Springs, where a week was spent in excavating the cemetery of the old Jemez village of Giusiwa. About 30 burials were disinterred here, and a few accompaniments of pottery vessels and other artifacts were recovered; but in the main the deposits had been completely destroyed by aboriginal disturbance, caused in part by covering the burials with heavy stones and partly by displacing the skeletons previously buried when subsequent interments were made. Giusiwa was inhabited in prehistoric times and also well within the historical period, as is attested by its massive, roofless church, built about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Nevertheless, no indication of Spanish influence was found in the ancient cemetery, and it is assumed that burial therein ceased with the coming of the missionaries and the establishment of the campo santo adjacent to the church. All collections gathered at Giusiwa have been deposited in the National Museum.

Other immense ruins on the summits of the mesas bounding the valley on the west were examined with the view of their future excavation. The exact position of the Jemez tribe among the Pueblo peoples is a problem, and both archeological and ethnological studies thereof are essential to its determination.