REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 33 



beeu made to the collection of ancient implements as well as to that of 

 those used by Indians of the present day. It was stated in the last 

 report that the services of Charles Ran, a well known ethnologist, had 

 been engaged to classify and arrange the collection in the National 

 Museum and to prepare a descriptive catalogue for publication. This 

 work he has accomplished in connection with the Centennial Exhibi- 

 tion, and although the catalogue is not entirely exhaustive it will 

 serve to show what ample material has been obtained by the Smithso- 

 nian Institution for the study of North American archaeology. The fol- 

 lowing is an account of the work in question : 



In the introduction the author speaks of the syslem adopted by him 

 in arranging the Smithsonian collections illustrative of North American 

 archseology and ethnology. The archwological series comprises objects 

 supposed to belong to times antecedent to the European occupation, 

 and which, therefore, are thought to exhibit aboriginal art unmodified 

 by contact with the whites. These relics, consisting of chipped and 

 ground stone, of copper, bone, horn, shell, clay, and, to a small extent, 

 of wood, were found in mounds and other burial-places of early date, 

 in caves and in the shell-heaps met with along the coasts of North 

 America. The second, or more strictly etlmological, series, a descrip- 

 tion of which is not attempted in the present volume, consists of arti- 

 cles obtained from existing native tribes by private explorations, as well 

 as by expeditions undertaken by order of the United States Govern- 

 ment, and contains almost every object tending to illustrate the do- 

 mestic life, hunting, fishing, game, warfare, navigation, traveling by 

 land — in short, every phase of the existence of these tribes that can be 

 represented by tangible tokens. The uses of these ethnological speci- 

 mens are in most cases well known, a statement which cannot be made 

 in reference to the objects constituting the archteological series, for 

 many of the latter leave a wide scope for conjecture as to the manner 

 in which they were employed by their makers. These doubts extend 

 even to certain types hitherto thought to be well recognized. Thus, 

 many of the so-called arrow and spear heads were not what their names 

 imply, but knives used in connection with short wooden handles. Such 

 cutting-tools have been obtained by Major J. W. Powell among the 

 Pai-utes, and Mr. Paul Schumacher found corresponding implements in 

 graves of Southern California. 



The introduction closes with reference to the other valuable collec- 

 tions of the National Museum which illustrate the past or present con- 

 dition of man in Central and South America, in Asia, Europe, and the 

 other parts of the world. 



The first division treats of the most numerous class of relics, namely, 

 those of stone, which are fashioned either by the process of chipping, 

 grinding, or polishing. The first category embraces rude pieces, flakes 

 and cores as well as the more carefully wrought objects, such as arrow 

 and spear heads, perforators, scrapers, cutting and sawing tools, dag- 

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