OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. XXVII 
thing more than a record of quaint customs and abhorrent rites 
in which morbid curiosity may revel. In them we find the 
evidences of traits of character and lines of thought that yet 
exist and profoundly influence civilization. Passions in the 
highest culture deemed most sacred—the love of husband and 
wife, parent and child, and kith and kin, tempering, beautify- 
ing, and purifying social life and culminating at death, have 
their origin far back in the early history of the race and leaven 
the society of savagery and civilization alike At either end 
.of the line bereavement by death tears the heart and mortuary 
customs are symbols of mourning. The mystery which broods 
over the abbey where lie the bones of king and bishop, gathers 
over the ossuary where lie the bones of chief and shamin; for 
the same longing to solve the mysteries of life and death, the 
same yearning for a future life, the same awe of powers more 
than human, exist alike in the mind of the savage and the sage. 
By such investigations we learn the history of culture in 
these important branches, and in a paper appended to this 
report Dr. Yarrow presents some of the results of his studies. 
INVESTIGATIONS RELATING TO CESSIONS OF LAND BY INDIAN 
TRIBES TO THE UNITED STATES, BY C. C. ROYCE. 
When civilized man first came to America the continent was 
partially occupied by savage tribes, who obtained subsistence 
by hunting, by fishing, by gathering vegetal products, and by 
rude garden culture in cultivating small patches of ground. 
Semi-nomadic occupancy for such purposes was their tenure 
to the soil. 
On the organization of the present government such theories 
of natural law were entertained that even this imperfect occu- 
pancy was held to be sufficient title. Publicists, jurists, and 
statesmen agreed that no portion of the waste of lands between 
the oceans could be acquired for the homes of the incoming 
civilized men but by purchase or conquest in just war. These 
theories were most potent in establishing practical relations, 
