22 



Resolved, That we regard the work prepared upon this subject as one of 

 great general interest, and as worthy to be adopted for pubhcation by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, both as resting on original researches, and as affording re- 

 markable 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. George P. Marsh, of 

 Vermont, both members of this society, and joint members of this committee. 

 Ail of which is respectfully submitted. 



EDWARD ROBINSON, ) 

 JOHN R. BARTLETT, > Committee. 

 W. W.TURNER, ) 



New York, June, 1817. 



New York, June 9, 1847. 



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 fully confirmed. It is Ibrtunate for the cause 

 of American Archaeology 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 contributions than that y/hich the enlightened and generous zeal of 

 these two private gentlemen is about to conier upon it. The Smithsonian col- 

 lections could not begin with a more appropriate or creditable essay : and I 

 hope that every facility may be aftbrded to the authors in bringing before tlie 

 public the results of their honorable labors in as suitable a form and with as 

 little delay as possible. 



GEO. P. MARSH. 



Philadelphia, JuneS, 1847. 



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

 pointed 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 con- 

 vinced they constitute by far the most important contribution to the Archae- 

 ology of the United States that has ever been offered to the public. The num- 

 ber and accuracy of their plans, sketches, &.c., have both interested and sur- 

 prised me, and it is gratifying to learn that the preliminary arrangements have 

 been made for their publication under the honorable auspices of the Smithso* 

 nian Institution. 



SAML. GEORGE MORTON. 



The memoirs of Messrs. Sqitier and Davis will occupy the greater portion, 

 if not the whole, of the first volume of tlie Contributions. The iUustra- 

 tions will consist of fifty-five quarto plates of the mounds, earthworks, and 

 maps of the adjacent country; also, of about two hundred wood-cuts, 

 principally delineations of the various articles found in the mounds. 

 Those who consider no branch of knowledge of any value but such as 



