REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 45 



and includes representatives of all the types hitherto found in the 

 mounds except one of Ohio and one of Iowa. 



The most important results appertain to the mounds and works them- 

 selves. The statement in the Smithsonian Report of 1872 in reference 

 to the Elephant mound is confirmed; the Seltzertown mound is proven 

 to be a myth; at least no sign of it could be found on examination. 



The mounds and graves on the Wabash are found to be, to a con- 

 siderable extent, of Indian origin, and comparatively modern, as shown 

 by the articles of European manufacture found in them and by the 

 mode of burial. 



Dr. Palmer had with him for a month an excellent artist who has 

 furnished a number of very valuable drawings of mounds and other 

 works. From these it is noticed that the mounds of Arkansas are in 

 many cases quite large and of the truncated pyramidal form, often ter- 

 raced. Artificial canals and lakes, such as described by Garcilasso and 

 the Gentleman of Divas, are found in Northeastern Arkansas. Sfeveral 

 of the hard clay floors of the large houses of the aborigines, as described 

 by Le Tonti, Joutel, and others, have been found in the very section 

 visited by these travelers. 



An inclosure of considerable size, including mounds and house sites, 

 precisely such, even to minute details, as that examined by Professor 

 Putnam, near Lebanon, Tenn., has been discovered in Southern Illi- 

 nois. 



On the whole, the results, considering the time the parties have been 

 at work, are very satisfactory, and will have a very important bearing 

 on the question. Who were the mound builders, and what is the age 

 of the mounds 1 



Professor Thomas made an examination of some groups of mounds in 

 Southern Illinois and Southeastern Missouri. 



Further successful explorations were conducted in New Mexico and 

 Arizona, under the immediate superintendence of Mr. James Steven- 

 son. Mr. Victor Mindeleff was in charge of a party which made ex- 

 tensive collections in the province of Tusayan, in Arizona, supple- 

 menting the large collections obtainei I in previous years from twenty 

 or more pueblos in New Mexico. The collections obtained by these 

 expeditions have been deposited, with proper arrangement, in the Na- 

 tional Museum, and have been catalogued and described. The field 

 work, with special reference to linguistic research, has been performed 

 by Mr. James C. Pilling, who visited several missions along the St. 

 Lawrence and Ottawa Elvers, examining many manuscripts and pro- 

 curing numerous titles in connection with linguistic bibliography ; by 

 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith, who continued studies on the Iroquoian dialects 

 at St. Kegis, Caughnanaga, &c. ; by Mr. A. S. Gatschet, who, among the 

 Shetimasha and other tribes in Louisiana, and by Eev. J. Owen Dorsey, 

 who, among the Kansas in Indian Territory, studied the respective lan- 

 guages. 



