76 LIMITATIONS TO THE USE OF ANTHROPOLOGIC DATA. 
HISTORY, CUSTOMS, AND ETHNIC CHARACTERISTICS. 
When America was discovered by Europeans, it was inhabited by 
great numbers of distinct tribes, diverse in languages, institutions, and 
customs. This fact has never been fully recognized, and writers have 
too often spoken of the North American Indians as a body, supposing 
that statements made of one tribe would apply toall. This fundamental 
error in the treatment of the subject has led to great confusion. 
Again, the rapid progress in the settlement and occupation of the 
country has resulted in the gradual displacement of the Indian tribes, 
so that very many have been removed from their ancient homes, some 
of whom have been incorporated into other tribes, and some have been 
absorbed into the body of civilized people. 
The names by which tribes have been designated have rarely been 
names used by themselves, and the same tribe has often been desig- 
nated by different names in different periods of its history and by dif- 
ferent names in the same period of its history by colonies of people 
having different geographic relations to them. Often, too, different 
tribes have been designated by the same name. Without entering into 
an explanation of the causes which have led to this condition of things, 
it is simply necessary to assert that this has led to great confusion of 
nomenclature. Therefore the student of Indian history must be con- 
stantly on his guard in accepting the statements of any author relating 
to any tribe of Indians. 
It will be seen that to follow any tribe of Indians through post-Colum- 
bian times is a task of no little difficulty. Yet this portion of history 
is of importance, and the scholars of America have a great work before 
them. 
Three centuries of intimate contact with a civilized race has had no 
small influence upon the pristine condition of these savage and barbaric 
tribes. The most speedy and radical change was that effected in the 
arts, industrial and ornamental. A steel knife was obviously better than 
a stone knife; firearms than bows and arrows; and textile fabrics from 
the looms of civilized men are at once seen to be more beautiful and 
more useful than the rude fabrics and undressed skins with which the 
Indians clothed themselves in that earlier day. 
Customs and institutions changed less rapidly. Yet these have been 
much modified. Imitation and vigorous propagandism have been more 
or less efficient causes. Migrations and enforced removals placed tribes 
under conditions of strange environment where new customs and insti- 
tutions were necessary, and in this condition civilization had a greater 
influence, and the progress of occupation by white men wifhin the ter- 
ritory of the United States, at least, has reached such a stage that sav- 
agery and barbarism have no room for their existence, and even customs 
