2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 60 



sent us in the course of several thousand years the various more pro- 

 nounced sub-types of the American Indian, which according- to all 

 indications have developed outside of America. As a matter of fact, 

 we have searched and watched for evidence concerning- such remains 

 for many years, and every publication that dealt with archeological 

 exploration in eastern Asia or brought photographs of the natives, 

 has in one way or another strengthened our expectations. 



No archeologic work on an adequate scale, however, and no com- 

 prehensive anthropologic investigation of the natives of eastern Asia, 

 have as yet been carried out, and in consequence many points on which 

 light was needed remained uncertain. 1 Under these circumstances the 

 writer was very desirous to visit personally at least a few of the more 

 important parts of eastern Asia, to observe what was to be found 

 there, and to determine what should be done in those regions by 

 anthropologists and archeologists interested in the problem of the 

 identity and origin of the American Indian. 



An opportunity to undertake something in this direction came at 

 last during the present year ; but the means were limited and neces- 

 sitated a restriction of the trip to the more important and at the same 

 time more accessible territory. The choice was made of certain parts 

 of south-eastern Siberia and of northern Mongolia, including Urga, 

 the capital of outer Mongolia, which encloses two great monasteries 

 and is constantly visited by a large number of the natives from all 

 parts of the country. Besides the field observations a visit was also 

 made to the various Siberian museums within the area covered, for the 

 purpose of seeing their anthropological collections. 



It will not be possible to enter here into details of the journey and 

 I shall, therefore, restrict myself to mentioning in brief the main re- 

 sults. Thanks to the Russian men of science and the Russian political 

 as well as military authorities, my journey was everywhere facilitated, 

 I was spared delays, was shown freely the existing collections, and 

 received much valuable information. 



I have seen, or been told, of thousands upon thousands of as yet 

 barely touched burial mounds or " kourgans ", dating from the pres- 

 ent time back to the period when nothing but stone implements were 

 used by man in those regions. These kourgans dot the country about 

 the Yenisei and its affluents, about the Selenga and its tributaries. 



1 It is only fair, however, that attention be called here to the Bogoraz and 

 Jochelson work among the natives of Northern Siberia, as a part of the 

 Jessup Expedition, for the American Museum of Natural History, New York 

 City. Regrettably this work did not extend far enough to the south. 



