204 proceedings: anthropological society 



spoke of the large and important cultural groups found in the West 

 Indies where the Carib stock was preceded by another stock, the Arawak, 

 both originating in South America. In the West Indes the root of 

 the yuca bears the same relation to the food problem of the people 

 that the corn bears in the southwest. 



Dr. Walter Hough said that at the Discovery the tribes of America 

 were identified with the environments in which they had settled and 

 since that time only migrations of a minor character have taken place. 

 The causes of extensive migration were thus conjectural but depended 

 on basic facts of food, transportation, and artificial fire-making. 



Mr. Francis La Flesche stated that the ancient rites of the Siouan 

 stock show that the migrations of the people were influenced by the 

 search for food. The first animal mentioned in these rites is the elk, 

 succeeded by the deer, and later by the buffalo, at which period the 

 mention of corn appears for the first time. 



Frances Densmore, Secretary. 



