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Show ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT xxvn was in constant contact with various Indian tribes, including the plains Indians, among whom the sign language was highly developed. Early in his stay he became interested in the signs and began acquiring tlvis interesting art of expression, and his studies continued until he became proficient and able to use the sign language habitually in communicating with various tribes. His knowledge of the system is undoubtedly superior to that of any other white man, and his acquaintance with individual signs exceeds that of any Indian with whom he has come in contact. During the winter Captain Scott was transferred to Washington, and through the courtesy of the Secretary of War and the Commanding General of the Army he was authorized to take up the record and discussion of sign language under the direction of the Bureau. Considerable progress had been made in the work when it was interrupted by conditions connected with the war with Spain. WORK IN SOPHIOLOGY The Director continued the development of a system of classification designed to indicate the place of the American aborigines among the peoples of the earth During the later part of the year he took up the voluminous material in the Bureau archives relating to aboriginal mythology. While in charge of the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain region, before the Bureau was instituted, the Director began the collection of myths among the Indians of the territories, and when the Bureau was created this material, in connection with a body of linguistic manuscripts obtained by the Smithsonian Institution, formed the original archives. Additional material was collected from time to time bv the Director and by several of the collaborators, and there are now some hundreds of manuscript records ready for study. Satisfactory progress has been made in the preliminary arrangement of the manuscripts and in the extraction and classification of salient features in the primitive mythology prevailing among all of the native tribes before the advent of the white man. Mrs Matilda Coxe Stevenson has continued the final revision of her manuscript for a memoir on Zuni ceremonies, designed for incorporation in an early report. Most of the chapters are |