Putnam.] 44U [Xov. 6, 



determiue the question, which existed here on the southwestern coast of 

 Florida, extending northward up the eastern coast. 



The wooden objects in this collection are very remarkable ; and the 

 fact that wooden vessels took the place of pottery is an important one, as 

 it seems to indicate that the people w^ere forced to use wood instead of 

 pottery from the abundance of the former and the absence of clay to 

 make the latter. These masks I consider the most marvelous archao- 

 logical evidence that has ever been brought out. Never before have we 

 been able to dig up masks and to read the story that they tell as Mr. 

 Gushing has read it to us to-night. We know that the people of to-day 

 in Central America use masks very similar to these ; and I believe that 

 the people of South America have somewhat similar masks. We know 

 that many of our Indian tribes have masks .of very similar character. 

 This form of mask having the characteristics of the bird, or some animal, 

 represented over the face is so common to-daj" in Alaska and other parts 

 of the northwest coast, that it is actually startling to an ethnologist to 

 see these masks, dug up in Florida, showing the same character of art. 

 The interi^retatiou that Mr. Gushing has given to this idea of ex- 

 pressing the animal upon the human face and of making the Bird God, 

 or the Wolf God, is the same as that worked out by Dr. Franz Boas ; 

 and this we know to be true from actual evidence of the Indians them- 

 selves. 



I can only add that Avhen I read Mr. Cushing's first statement of this 

 very interesting discovery, I did not know what to make of it. It 

 seemed to me almost beyond belief that so much of importance could have 

 been found down there in Florida, where so many had been working. 

 From his statement and from the photographs which he lias shown us 

 to-night I am satisfied that he has entered upon a very rich field, and 

 one of the utmost importance to the archfeology of North America. I 

 sincerely hope that his work will be continued, that he will have an op- 

 portunity to return to this place, and, if possible, to work for several years 

 about these keys. This whole subject should be investigated in a thor- 

 ough manner, that we may understand still more of this people who built 

 these peculiar and wonderful shell structures. We do not begin to ap- 

 preciate the probable antiquity of this people until w^e stop to consider 

 that these Florida keys could not have supported a very large ])opu- 

 lation, and that it must have taken an immense amount of time and 

 millions upon millions of conch shells to make these great mounds, 

 upon which the dwellings of the people were probably erected. Mr. 

 Gushing states that this people must have lived upon these keys many 

 centuries (I am inclined to say many thousand j'ears) ago. 



There has been presented to us to-night one of the most important 

 archaeological papers that I have ever listened to ; and certainly the ob- 

 jects illustrating the paper are of extraordinary interest. 



I sincerely congratulate Mr. Gushing, as well as the University and all 

 connected with this expedition, on the imjiortaiit results of his lal)ors. 



