KEPORT OF THE SECKETARY. 21 



J. W. Powell, Direc-tor, by means of the usual Congressional ajipro- 

 priation, the formal plan of operations ha\ in^- been a])|)i'o\('<l hy the 

 Secretary of the Institution. 



The work of the Bureau has related largely to a study of tho orioin, 

 physical and mental characteristics, arts and industries, food suppl}"^ 

 social and political institutions, religions, and languages of these tri1)es. 



A considerable share of attention has been given to distinctly pi-ac- 

 tical questions — relating to the jiborigines — to ti'ibal <listri])ution, to 

 subsequent movements and locations of the tri))es, to th(^ law s relating 

 to their welfare and their relations to the (Tovernment, to trcati(vs, to 

 cessions and recessions of territory. 



It has seemed desirabl(> for many years that thcrc^ should )>c arranged 

 and pu])lished in some methodical form an cncv(dopedia or dictionar}' 

 of Indian tri])es for which nuich material has been accunudated, and 

 wdiich it has been intended should present a complete account of them 

 as grouped by linguistic stocks. This is expected to prove of great 

 service to Congress. and to public men generally, as well as to institu- 

 tions of learning, l)ut in view of the time which this great work ma}' 

 be expected to take, the innuediate })reparation and pid)lication of a 

 dictionary of ready refi^rence to all that is most useful in th(> past 

 work of the Bureau has ])een determined upon as the most necessary 

 publication and work of the Bureau in th(^ inunediate futur(\ 



Field work was conducted l>y the regular force of the Pmreau in 

 Alaska, Arizona. California, and in several other Steites and Territo- 

 ries, as also in British Colum])ia, Mexico, Greenland, and in Porto 

 Rico, while usefid information and material was ol)tained from corre- 

 spondents and special collal)orators. Special attention was devoted to 

 a study of those a])original industries which appeai'ed to 1)ear practictd 

 relations to modern life, particularly to aboriginal methods of house 

 building and ii-rigation. and to food sources in those tropical and arid 

 regions that formerly sustained a population live to tiMi times larger 

 than at the present day. A noteworthy investigation of aboriginal 

 industries was conducted in Porto Kico, and a special report of the 

 native resources of that island is in preparation. 



A special stud}" was made of a ceremony among the Pawnee Indians 

 embracing songs of interest in the de\'elopm(Mit of music; and poetry, 

 and to early phases of the drama. th(^ memoii- being acconi])ariied bv 

 the primitive music recordf^l. b\- the aid of the graphophone, and with 

 j)hot()graphs of movements and obj(H'ts inti'oduced in the cei'emonv. 



A notable collection of chipped im])lements, teeth and bones of an 

 extinct elephant, together with a nnnarkable series of teetli and hones 

 of the mastodon, besides remains of buffalo, deer, horse, and other 

 animals of the historic period, Avas obtained from a si)ring in ihr north- 

 eastern Indian Territory. The association of fossil r(Muains with human 

 implements was puzzling until a critical examination by Mr. W. II. 

 Holmes, veritied'tln-ough the memory of an aged Indian chief, indicated 



