APPENDIX : EI.KPHANT PIPES ANP IXSCRTBED TABLETS. 287 



In now bringing these^notes to a close, it is, perhaps, no more than 

 justice to Mr. Henshaw to state that in his attack upon the authenticity 

 of the rehcs in question he does not stand alone, but is ably sus- 

 tained by the Directoij of the]' Bureau. In his introductory chapter, 

 Major Powell writes as follows: 



"It will be the duty of the Bureau of Ethnology to devote careful attention to 

 this interesting field of archseology. But those za/io have hitherto conducted these 

 ;vjfff/r//c',f have betrayed a predetermination to find [something inexplicable on the 

 simple hypothesis of a continuous Indian population, and were swept by blind zeal 

 into serious errors, eveti when they were not imposed upon by frauds and forgeries. 

 Some of the latter, consisting of objects manufactured for sale to supply the man- 

 ifested craving after the marvelous, and even inscribed tablets suggesting alpha- 

 betic or phonetic systems, ha^'c recently been exposed by the agency of this Bureau^ * 



This was the first information given to the public that any such 

 "frauds and forgeries" had "recently been exposed" by the Bureau, and 

 we look in vain through its publications for the details of these alleged 

 extraordinary exposures ! As in the case of Mr. Henshaw, it will be 

 noticed that these extravagant denunciations of the rehcs in the Dav- 

 enport Academy are madelby Major Powell without reference to a 

 particle of evidence to sustain them, or even the suggestion of a sus- 

 picious circumstance in connection with them. But we have as fellovv- 

 sufiferers the grand company of archaeologists the world over, for the 

 Director of the Bureau, while he discredits our relics,|also condemns 

 the work of all "who have hitherto conducted these researches." None 

 so worthy as to escape his denunciation ! 



Before closing this paper, it will be instructive, in connection with 

 this "new departure" of the Bureau of Ethnology, to recall the curious 

 circumstance that the first publication ever made by the Smithsonian 



"A deduction, not made by tlie author, may, perhaps, be sug-gested by the comparison from the 

 art and literature furnished by him, to the effect that tlie artistic methods 0/ the Mmtnd-huilder 

 are traceahlc amoii^ tlie historic tribes of North America, tending to shovj tliat, contrary to 

 the once current belief, based exclusively on the same evidence, there is no marked racial dis- 

 tinction betz'.'een them." Major Powell is quite right in saving that this is "« deduction not 

 made by the author y When, on the contrary, it is observed how directly it conflicts with the 

 conclusions of Mr. Holmes, as stilted in the above paragraph, it aftbrds an amusing illustration 

 of the eagerness of the accomplished Director to maintiiin his theory. 



* Second Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology, 1S80-S1, pp. xxxi.-xxxii., Introductory. 



The severity of the language italicized can only be fulh' appreciated by reference to the paper 

 of Mr. Henshaw, which Major Powell thus introduces and endorses. In that paper Mr. Hen- 

 shaw makes direct mention of the Davenport Academy, and selects the relics in question for 

 condemnation. Major Powell, therefore, clearly aims his shafts at these relics, and having con- 

 signed the " pipes " to a commercial hell, looks about for some lower deep for "even inscribed 

 tablets! '" If this is the standard of criticism, and these the critics, explorers may well hesitate 

 before exposing their heads above an opened mound to be pelted with maledictions by archa-olo- 

 gists in high places, and mav deem it prudent to engage in some less perilous pursuit. 



