34 EEPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 



ger-shaped implements, large implements supposed to Lave been used 

 in digging the ground, and, lastly, wedge or celt-shaped tools or 

 weapons. The ground and polished specimens, more defined in form, 

 comprise wedges or celts, chisels, gouges, adzes, and grooved axes, ham- 

 mers, drilled ceremonial weapons, cutting-tools, scraper and spade-like 

 implements, pendants and sinkers, discoidal stones and kindred objects, 

 pierced tablets and boat-shaped articles, stones used in grinding and 

 polishing, vessels, mortars, pestles, tubes, pipes, ornaments, and sculp- 

 tures. 



The objects of copper are described under the following heads. They 

 are either weapons and tools, or ornaments, and have been produced, 

 as it would appear, by hammering pieces of native copper into the re- 

 quired shapes. 



The third division embraces the specimens of bone and horn, consist- 

 ing of perforators, harpoon-heads, fish-hooks, cups, whistles, drilled 

 teeth, &c. 



Under the fourth head are enumerated the various objects made of 

 shells. They are either utensils and tools, such as driuking-cups, 

 spoons, fish-hooks, celts, &c, or ornaments, comprising various kinds of 

 gorgets, pendants, and beads. 



In the fifth division, which treats of ceramic fabrics, the vessels ob- 

 tained from mounds of the United States as well as the more elaborate 

 specimens of Mexican fictile art, are described and figured. 



Under the sixth head the wooden objects of early date are enumer- 

 ated. Their number is not very considerable, owing to the perishable 

 character of wood. 



In the first appendix the aboriginal methods of haftiug stone and bone 

 implements are described aud illustrated by eighteen drawings. The 

 second appendix shows the system adopted in classifying the Smithso- 

 nian collection, illustrative of North American ethnology. 



The implements and samples of workmanship which the Institution 

 has collected furnish a knowledge of the condition of the arts among 

 the primitive people who inhabited this continent. There is, however, 

 another class of ethnological information which cannot be derived from 

 such objects. We allude to the manners and customs of the people, the 

 ceremonies they observe, the myths they transmit, and the religious 

 systems they have adopted. As a general rule it may be assumed that 

 for any usage or ceremony found among them for which no reason can 

 be given there was a corresponding usage in ancient times which had a 

 direct relation to the condition of the people at that time. Hence in 

 order to reconstruct the past history of the different races of men it is 

 of great importance to discover the survivals of the past in present 

 usages. The especial attention therefore of those who have an oppor- 

 tunity of studying those tribes of Indians which have come least under 

 the influence of civilized man has been directed to obtaining accurate 

 information as to the points we have above enumerated. 



