340 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



raven or the mink ; but the sun and the moon, as sister and brother 

 or as husband and wife, are the great themes of the story-tellers. In 

 the northernmost portions the tribes are nature worshipers. They 

 worship the trees and the mountains. The more central tribes worship 

 the sky, while those near Vancouver worship the sun. Major Powell 

 states that there are fifty-eight language stocks among the Indians of 

 North America without counting those of Mexico or Central America. 

 The Pueblos have a language not in the least similar to that of the 

 Sioux, and wherever some dialect of the Sioux is spoken there will be 

 found the "sun dance." The savages fast for four days, and then 

 putting skewers through the muscles of their chests attach thongs to 

 them. The other ends are fastened to a post, and the Indian, facing 

 the sun in the morning, leans back with his whole weight; and keep- 

 ing his face toward the sun as the day passes, endures till the skewers 

 tear out of the flesh. The (juestion, "Whence came these tribes, so 

 different and yet so alike?" has been answered by various people in 

 various ways. One theory is that they originated in this countiy — 

 that they " evoluted." There are no fossil remains to support the 

 theory. Another is that they all came from one place — from Egypt, 

 or from Japan, or from Russia, or from the North of Europe — and 

 afterwards became diversified in speech and worship. A favorite sup- 

 position is that they are the "lost tribes" of Israel. A third theory 

 is that they are from different places and have slowly actjuired simi- 

 larity in feature and habit. The jirofessor ventured the proposition 

 that as time goes on the people of this country will again acquire com- 

 mon characteristics of features and complexion. 



June 28, i8g^. — Regular Meeting. 



President Hammatt in the chair ; nine members present. 



On behalf of the publication committee Mrs. Putnam presented a 

 proof of the following circular prepared under the direction of Prof. 

 Starr for the enlistment of workers in archaeological research: 



CIRCULAR OF SUGGESTION REGARDING WORK IN ARCHAEOLOGY. 



The Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences desires to organize a sys- 

 tematic and thorough field-work in Archaeology through the State of Iowa. 

 As a result of such work the Academy hopes ultimately to publish a final 

 report upon the archaeology of the State. This report should accurately 

 locate and properly describe all the mounds, earthworks, village sites, shell- 

 heaps, and other monuments of the aboriginal inhabitants of Iowa ; it should 



