37 2 The Smithsonian Institution 



vestigators ; for it was recognized that research is best pro- 

 moted by encouraging- the investigator. Such have been the 

 general methods in the bureau ; they are in no way peculiar, 

 and are worthy of statement only as the basis on which the 

 researches of the bureau have always rested. 



As the researches progressed the plan matured in special 

 methods growing out of special conditions. It was found 

 that the native Americans are grouped in tribes bearing dis- 

 tinct names, possessing more or less distinctive attributes, 

 and occupying more or less definite areas, so that in current 

 thought and in history the tribe had come to be regarded as 

 a primary ethnic unit ; and the work became accordingly an 

 investigation of American tribes. The questions asked by 

 anthropologists concerning the native tribes commonly run 

 in a certain order. The first demand is for definition or more 

 extended description ; the second is for the geographic posi- 

 tion or distribution of the tribe ; while the third is frequently 

 connected with the social and other relations of the tribes- 

 men ; somewhat less frequently questions arise concerning 

 the history and prospects of individual tribes, and ethical 

 questions of such character as to fall within the legitimate 

 domain of official inquiry occasionally arise. To all such 

 intelligent and definite demands for information it seemed 

 desirable to make answer, and thereby the special methods 

 of the bureau were shaped ; and, so far as conditions per- 

 mitted, the tribes have been classified, their distribution has 

 been determined, their organization and institutions have 

 been ascertained, and their history has been deciphered and 

 recorded. Yet it was recognized throughout that each tribe 

 is but a minute part of a great assemblage the American 

 people ; and it has ever been sought to so shape the re- 

 searches as to contribute toward answering all legitimate in- 

 quiries concerning the relations of this important branch of 



