40 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



is at hand for applying the principles of the New Ethnology to American aborigines 

 as ethnic constituents of a growing citizensliip. The application requires a f-tati'stical 

 study of physical characteristics, including viability, incUistrial aptitude, etc., of 

 typical Indian tribes, together with a similar study of mixed bloods, or mestizos, 

 both conducted with a view of comparison with Caucasian and other ethnic norms. 

 The importance of this line of inciuiry is suggested by the fact that there are no 

 physical statistics on record of any tribe of our passing race available for comparing 

 stature, strength, endurance, viability, fecundity, and other jihysical attriVmtes, with 

 those of Caucasians, either with the view of gratifying our instinctive desire for 

 knowledge or with the object of deriving useful information from the experience of 

 other peoples. The importance of inquiries concerning mestizos is sufficiently indi- 

 cated by the history of a neighboring Rei^ublic, whose president is at once a product 

 of the blended blood of the white and red races, and one of the foremost among the 

 world's national leaders. Singularly, there are no trustworthy records of mestizos in 

 this country, though their nmnber must reach some 30 to 60 per cent of that of the 

 pure-blood Indian population. Nor is it to l;)e forgotten that many of the practical 

 problems connected with immigration, Chinese exclusion, the occupation of Porto 

 Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines, and the education of the colored race can be 

 finally solved only in the light of ethnologic principles, whether these be developed 

 through slow experience or derived from scientific researches already advanced to 

 the applicable stage. These and other weighty considerations have led to the 

 inauguration of researches in physical ethnology. During the fiscal year a series of 

 physical records made by Dr. Franz Boas among tlie Siouan Indians, with photo- 

 graphs representing the physical types, was accepted for laublication. 



2. Aboriginal economics. — It is well known that aboriginal America gave the world 

 corn, the potato, certain beans and squashes, tobacco, two varieties of cotton, and the 

 domestic turkey; it is not so well known that the native tribes utilized various other 

 natural resources which might well be introduced into the dietary and commerce of 

 Caucasian peoples; and still less is it realized that various prepared foods in halytual 

 use by the Amerinds are of unsurpassed excellence — for while succotash and hominy 

 have come into general use, the far superior pinole, tamale, and pemmican are only 

 locally used by whites and many other desirable dishes are entirely neglected. 

 When the Bureau was instituted it was a common impression that the al)origines 

 were mere huntsmen and fishermen, whose habits were in the highest degree vicious 

 and improvident; but as the innnan activities were defined and the aboriginal indus- 

 tries were ailo])ted it became more and more evident that many of the tribes were 

 essentially agricultural, and that all subsisted in much larger degree than connnonly 

 supposed on the produce of the soil. As researches progressed the importance of 

 various aboriginal food sources neglected by the Anglo-Saxon became clear, and at 

 the same time it became clear that our people might learn much from the red man con- 

 cerning the simpler agricultural methods and the ways of bringing plants and animals 

 under (-ultivation and domestication. The success of the native in utilizing natural 

 resources is well illustrated in the arid region comprising that portion of the count ly still 

 unsettled. The traveler o\er the principal railway from a few miles west of El I'aso to 

 a few miles east of San Bernardino traverses a zone supi)orting a Caucasian jjopula- 

 tion of some 20,000, with perhaps half as many Indians; the same zone alwunds in 

 ruins of aboriginal dwellings, tem])les, ace(|uias, and res(>rvoirs, attesting a po])ula- 

 tion fully ten times greater during tlie agricultural pciiod aiiti'datiiig llic Apache 

 M'ars of the last eight or ten ceutuiics. It is highly significant that our li'ast- 

 populated arid districts in the Southwest are those yielding most abundant evicU'Uces 

 of numerous population during prehistoric times. A s])ecific exanqjle may be foimd 

 in Arivaca Valley, Arizona, with a present inqmlation of less than 100; yet one of 

 seven i)rehistori(r villages within Ihe valley ((^nprises ruins of more than 120 dwell- 

 ings, with temple, corral, stadium, and pla/.as, evidently representing a population 



