144 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT DP 



searches, and as affording remarkable illustrations of the history of the 

 American continent. 



Your committee would also append to this report the accompanying 

 letters from Samuel G. Morton, M. D., of Philadelphia, and Hon. 

 Oeorge P. Marsh, of Vermont, both members of this society, o-nd joint 

 members oi this committee. 



All of which is respectfully submitted^ 



EDWARD ROBINSON, ) 



JOHN R. BARTLETT, > CommUtec. 



New York, June, 1847. 



W. W. TURNER, 



New York, June 9, 184'7. 



I have examined with much interest and attention the manuscripts, 

 drawings, and ancient relics in the possession of Mr. E. G. Squier, and 

 am happy to say that my previous impressions concerning the value of 

 the researches of that gentleman and his associate are {lill}^ confirmed* 

 It is tbrtunate for the cause of American Archcfeology that the first 

 systematic attempt at its elucidation should have been conceived and 

 executed in so truly philosophical a spirit ; and rich as this age already 

 is in antiquarian lore, it has, I think, received few more important con* 

 tributions tiian that v/hich the enlightened and generous zeal of these 

 two private gentlemen is about to confer upon it. The Smithsonian 

 collections could not begin with a more appropriate or creditable 

 essay ; and I hope that every facility may be afforded to the authors in 

 bringing before tlie public the resuUs of their honorable labors in as 

 suitable a form and with as little delay as possible. 



GEO. P. MARSH. 



Philadelphia, June 8, 1847. 

 As a member of the committee of the American Ethnological Society, 

 appointed to report on the memoir on American Archaeology, by Messrs. 

 E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis, I have great pleasure in saying, that 

 after a careful and repeated inspection of the materials in the hands of 

 those gentlemen, I am convinced they constitute by far the most im- 

 portant contribution to the Archaeology of the United States, that has 

 ever been offered to the public. The number and accuracy of their 

 plans, sketches, &c., have both interested and surprised me, and it is 

 gratifying to learn tliat the preliminary arrangements have been made 

 for their publication under the honorable auspices of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. 



SAME. GEORGE MORTON. 



The memoirs of Messrs. Squier and Davis will occupy the greater 

 portion, if not the whole, of the first volume of the Contributions. The 



