66 KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



ties of arts and industries, laws and languages, are the activities connected 

 with opinion, belief, philosophy — i. e., the sophic activities. On weighing 

 all the factors it has been found that the most convenient classification of 

 tribes is that based primarily on language, as explained in previous reports; 

 and this mode of denning the Indian tribes, first proposed by Gallatin and 

 adopted by the Bureau on its institution, has now come into general use. 



FIELD RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION. 



Throughout the first quarter of the year the Director was in Maine, 

 reviewing observations on shell mounds and village sites in connection 

 with the researches in classification noted in other paragraphs; and the 

 work was resumed early in June. Limited collections w r ere made, though 

 the observations and notes on the numerous survivors of the Abnaki Indians 

 proved of much interest and value. 



An extended exploratory trip was made during the autumn of 1900 by 

 Mr. McGee. Early in October he proceeded to the field for the purpose 

 of completing researches relating to the aborigines of the Serian stock and 

 at the same time carrying forward studies of neighboring tribes. A party 

 was organized at Phoenix, Ariz., and moved southwestward to Gila Bend 

 and thence southward to the international frontier at Santo Domingo. 

 Here the outfit was admitted to Mexican territory through the courtesy 

 of Senor Don Fernando Leal, at the obliging instance of Senor Don Manuel 

 de Aspiroz, the ambassador from Mexico to the United States. In this 

 vicinity are several settlements of Papago Indians, including some of the 

 Arenenos of early literature and local tradition, and the opportunities for 

 study were seized. From Santo Domingo the party proceeded southward 

 to Caborca and thence westward to the coast of Gulf of California, where 

 the Tepoka Indians (collinguals of the Seri) were reported to live so late 

 as 1894, subsisting on sea food and finding potable water in the lagoons 

 and sand beds at the embouchure of the sand wash variously called Mag- 

 dalena, Santa Ana, Altar, Asuncion, and San Ignacio. On reaching the 

 coast the leader was disappointed to find the tribal remnant entirely gone — 

 probably through extinction, possibly through migration down the coast 

 to Seriland. Traces of the Tepoka habitations still remained, together 

 with shell accumulations and minor relics, corroborating the reports con- 

 cerning the tribe current at Caborca in 1894; and the visit served also to 

 clear up doubtful points connected with the geography and history of the 

 region. Failing thus to attain the primary object of the expedition, Mr. 

 McGee determined to visit the territory of the little-known Cocopa Indians, 

 reputed to live about the head of the gulf, and to this end endeavored to 

 follow the coast northward to the mouth of the Colorado. Finding this 

 entirely impracticable, he returned by a new route to Santo Domingo, 

 collecting useful data concerning the Papago Indians on the way; and 

 from Santo Domingo he proceeded west-northwestward over the old Yuma 

 trail (including a stretch of 90 miles now without water) to Yuma, and 

 thence southward to the Cocopa country. Here valuable collections, notes, 

 and photographs were obtained; and after some weeks the party returned 

 via Yuma and the Gila and Salado valleys to Phoenix, disbanding there 

 on December 20. The party comprised Mr. W J McGee, ethnologist in 



