22 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



liigli utility, arc entirely unprovided. Individuals do not receive the 

 volumes at all, but only such papers extracted from them as relate to 

 the scientific work in which they are immediately concerned. It is 

 much to be desired that larger editions should be provided for. 



During the year two volumes of the Proceedings and one complete 

 number and parts of another number of the Bulletin were published. 



The Museum has been benefited, as in previous years, by the co- 

 operation of the several Departments and Bureaus of the Government. 

 Special mention should be made in this connection of the many cour- 

 tesies received from the consular service of the Department of State. 

 The Quartermaster's Department of the Army has assisted materi- 

 ally l)y providing transportation for bulky collections coming to the 

 National Museum from remote localities. The Museum has further 

 been able to avail itself of the services of officials of the Favy Depart- 

 ment, Department of Agriculture, the U. S. Geological Survey, and 

 U. S. Fish Commission, who have acted in the cajjacity of honorary 

 curators. 



BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. 



The researches of the Bureau of Ethnology relating to the American 

 Indians were continued during the year in accordance with law, under 

 the direction of Maj. J. W. Powell, who also directed the work of the 

 U. S. Geological Survey. 



As during previous years the work of the Bureau has been con- 

 ducted with special reference to the American Indians in their primitive 

 condition, with a view of securing the largest j)ossible amount of infor- 

 mation, both in the form of records for print and in the form of mate- 

 rial objects for preservation and future study in the National Museum, 

 Thus extensive collections are made annually, and the value of these 

 collections is greatly enhanced by reason of the full notes always pre- 

 j)ared and the extended publications sometimes made by the collect- 

 ors. 



The non-material collections of data relating directly to the native 

 Americans, to the distribution of tribes, to their habits and customs, 

 to their arts, languages, institutions, and beliefs, are also abundant 

 and, it is believed, of iiermanent value. Detailed information on these 

 subjects is published in three series of reports additional to the 

 abstracts appearing in the Report of tiie Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. The thirty volumes already i)ublislied form a rich store- 

 house of facts relating to our native races. Four volumes were added 

 to this library during the year. 



One of the most interesting questions ever raised concerning the 

 early ])eoples of this country related to the artificial mounds scattered 

 abundantly over the Mississippi Valley and with less abundance over 

 most of our territory. Many investigators have given attention to 

 these works of a vanished race; and it came to be a general opinion 



