858 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



the exportation of antiquities. Such laws prevail in Denmark, Greece, Mexico, and 

 elsewhere; and while it may not be practicable or desirable for the United States to 

 follow their example, we may at least anticipate foreigners by collecting such objects 

 and transferring them to the National Museum in Washington. Unless some such 

 action be taken at an early day it will be necessary to depend upon European mu- 

 seums for the material for investigating the antiquities of the United States. 



For the foregoing reasons I would respectfully urge the careful consideration of 

 Major Powell's suggestions, and that such appropriations be made as Congress in its 

 wisdom may think proper. 



I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



SPENCER F. BAIRD, Secretary. 

 Hon. SAMUEL J. RANDALL, 



Speaker of the House of Representatives. 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 

 BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY (J. W. POWELL IN CHARGE), 



Washington, D. C., April 2, 1880. 



DEAR SIR: Ethnographic researches among the North American Indians have 

 been carried on by myself and under my direction for the last ten years. During the 

 second session of the Forty-fifth Congress the various geographical and geological 

 surveys were consolidated and reorganized by the establishment of a geological bureau 

 in the Interior Department. In the act effecting this change it was provided that the 

 ethnographic researches previously conducted by myself should be continued under the 

 direction of the Smithsonian Institution, and an appropriation was made therefor. 

 These ethnographic studies have heretofore embraced the following subjects: 



1. That portion of somatology relating to the skeleton, and especially to the crania, 

 of the North American Indians. In this department large collections have been 

 made. 



2. Philology. Under this head a great number of the languages of the North 

 American Indians have been studied, and a tentative classification of the linguistic 

 stocks has been made. 



In connection with this work a map of the United States has been prepared, exhib- 

 iting the original homes of the several linguistic families. 



Much has also been done in the study of the sign language of the Indians, and 

 large collections of pictographs have been made. 



3. Mythology. A very large collection has been made of the myths of the various 

 tribes of Indians scattered throughout the United States. 



4. Sociology. The line of investigation originally pursued by Mr. Lewis H. Mor- 

 gan, the results of which were published by the Smithsonian Institution, has been 

 continued under my direction, and a large body of material relating to the organiza- 

 tion of the family, clan, tribe, and confederacy among our North American Indians 

 has been collected. 



5. Habits and customs. In this field also much has been done, especially in rela- 

 tion to their mortuary customs and religious observances. 



6. Technology. In this field extensive investigations have been pursued relating 

 especially to the pristine dwellings of the Indians, beginning in caves and lodges 

 made of brush and bark and culminating in the pueblo structure of the southwestern 

 portion of the United States. This rude architecture has been studied with special 

 reference to the domestic life of the Indians. Their arts, as exhibited in their stone 

 implements, their pottery, their bows and arrows, their clothing, ornaments, etc., 

 have been studied, and a large collection made for the National Museum. 



7. Archaeology. Much has been done in this branch of investigation, especially 



