12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



The chief devoted his time while in the office to the 

 administrative work of the Bureau, giving the necessary 

 attention to his duties as curator of the Section of Pre- 

 historic Archeology and to the National Gallery of Ai-t in 

 the National Museum. During the year considerable prog- 

 ress was made in the preparation of a work, already well 

 advanced, on the stone implements of North America. 



Having been designated by the Department of State to 

 represent the Smithsonian Institution at the First Pan- 

 American Scientific Congress, held at Santiago, Chile (at 

 which he represented also the George Washington Uni- 

 versity), on October 29 the chief took passage on the 

 Hamburg-American steamer Amerika for England, sailing 

 thence by way of Vigo, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal, to 

 Buenos Aires. After spending ten days in the Argentine 

 capital with members of the delegation, making official 

 visits and pursuing studies in various public institutions, 

 he traversed the pampean country by rail to Mendoza, and 

 thence up the Mendoza River to Las Cuevas at the base of 

 the cumlDre or crest of the Andes. Taking coach at this 

 point he crossed to the Chilean side and soon reached San- 

 tiago. The three weeks spent in Santiago were taken up 

 largely with the affairs of the delegation, including official 

 duties and attendance on meetings of the congress. The 

 section of the natural sciences, including anthropology, met 

 daily, and on December 28 the chief acted as chairman of 

 the section. His contribution to the program of the 

 congress was a paper on "The peopling of America," an 

 abstract of which follows : 



Discussion of the problem of the origin of the American aborigines 

 involves consideration of several important questions, as follows: 



(1) Evolution of the human species from lower forms. 



(2) Geographical location of the origmal home of the race. 



(3) Dispersal to the various land areas of the globe. 



(4) Differentiation of the subraces physically and culturally. 



(5) Chronology of the racial history. 



In the present state of our knowledge we can not assume to dispose 

 finally of these several questions. It is most important, however, 

 that the whole subject should be passed under review at frequent 

 intervals, and the data assembled, classified, and critically exammed. 



