ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 93 



palace, whence directions were sent out which there was some agent 

 in every country town ready to carry out with skill and zeal. For 

 instance, it was interesting at Zuni to follow the way in which Colonel 

 and Mrs. Stevenson were working the pueblo, trading for speci- 

 mens, and bringing together all that was most valuable and inter- 

 esting in tracing the history of that remarkable people. Both man- 

 aged to identify themselves with the Indian life. And one thing I 

 particularly noticed was this, that to get at the confidence of a 

 tribe, the man of the house, though he can do a great deal, cannot 

 do all. If his wife sympathizes with his work, and is able to do it, 

 really half of the work of investigation seems to me to fall to her, 

 so much is to be learned through the women of the tribe which the 

 men will not readily disclose. The experience seemed to me a 

 lesson to anthropologists not to sound the "bull-roarer," and warn 

 the ladies off from their proceedings, but rather to avail themselves 

 thankfully of their help. 



Only one word more, and I will close. Years ago, when I first 

 knew the position occupied by anthropology, this position was far 

 inferior to that which it now holds. It was deemed, indeed, curious 

 and amusing; and travelers had even, in an informal way, shown 

 human nature as displayed among out-of-the-way tribes to be an 

 instructive study. But one of the last things thought of in the early 

 days of anthropology was that it should be of any practical use. 

 The effect of a few years' work all over the world shows that it is 

 not only to be an interesting theoretical science, but that it is to be 

 an agent in altering the actual state of arts and beliefs and institu- 

 tions in the world. For instance : look at the arguments on com- 

 munism in the tenure of land in the hands of a writer who thinks 

 how good it would be if every man always had his share of the land. 

 The ideas and mental workings of such a philosopher are quite dif- 

 ferent from those of an anthropologist, who knows land-communism 

 is an old and still existing institution of the world, and can see 

 exactly how, after the experience of ages, its disadvantages have 

 been found to outweigh its advantages, so that it tends to fall out 

 of use. In any new legislation on land, the information thus to be 

 given by anthropology must take its place as an important factor. 



Again : when long ago I began to collect materials about old 

 customs, nothing was farther from my thoughts than the idea that 

 they would be useful. By and by it did become visible, that to 

 show that a custom or institution which belonged to an early state 



