482 ANNUAL. REPOKT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1023 



plexity of grammar, ideas of gender, formation of numerals, modes 

 of plurality, formation and role of prefixes and suffixes, relative 

 values of the pronoun, dialectic differences in the two sexes, etc., 

 which, taken together, speak for one and the same (though doubt- 

 less ancient and probably extra-American) broad parentage. 



In a similar way we find that, notwithstanding numerous more 

 or less pronounced local differences in detail, there are in all tribes 

 many deep-seated and significant evidences of a similar culture. 

 They exist in the stone, clay, wood, and bone technique; in weaving 

 and basketry; in methods of housing, of fire making; in clothing 

 and the limited household furniture; in agriculture; in games; in 

 all that relates to medicine, religion, conceptions of nature; in folk- 

 lore ; in social organizations ; in the usages of war ; and in still other 

 important and intimate phases of Indian life. 



Going still further, there are found essential resemblances in the 

 mind and behavior of the Indians throughout the two continents. 

 One who has become well acquainted with the mentality of the 

 natives in any region of either North America or South America, 

 will find, on eliminating the local environmental peculiarities, 

 faithful counterparts in all other regions; and the behavior of the 

 Indian is in substance much the same everywhere in his family and 

 tribal relations, in the care of the young, in all his functions, in his 

 ceremonies, songs, warfare, in his peculiarities. 



The constitution of the Indian, using the term in its modern 

 medical sense, is also much the same throughout the two continents. 

 He is everywhere readily affected by, and falls an easy prey to alcohol ; 

 he is physically enduring, without in general being actually exception- 

 ally strong; he is little if at all, subject to various degenerating and 

 constitutional diseases such as cretinism, rachitis, cancer, insanity, 

 etc., but is everywhere readily affected by tuberculosis, trachoma, 

 measles, smallpox, and syphilis. 



Last, but not least, there are, notwithstanding certain differences, 

 the basic resemblances and identities of his body and skeleton. 

 Some of these features are: 



1. The Indian's color differs, according to localities and habits, 

 from duskjr yellowish, or brownish yellow, through all shades of 

 brown, to that of solid chocolate; but the fundamental color is 

 moderate brown, or yellowish-brown. 



2. The hair, as a rule, is black (to reddish-black after exposure) ; 

 it ranges about to above medium in coarseness, being never fine; 

 and it is straight, except in the old or unkept, where there may 

 be slight irregular waviness, and in the men who wear longer hair, 

 where the ends may show some tendency to turn upward or wave. 



