FORTIETH ANNUAL REPORT 
OF THE 
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 
J. WALTER FEwKEs, Chief. 
The operations of the Bureau of American Ethnology 
during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1919, were conducted 
in accordance with the act of Congress approved July 1, 1918, 
making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the 
Government, which act contains the following item: 
American ethnology: For continuing ethnological researches among 
the American Indians and the natives of Hawaii, including the exca- 
vation and preservation of archzologic remains, under the direction 
of the Smithsonian Institution, including necessary employees and 
the purchase of necessary books and periodicals, $42,000. 
The ethnological and archeological researches of the staff 
which are considered in the foliowing report being by law 
restricted to the American Indians thus from necessity are 
more or less limited in scope, but notwithstanding this limi- 
tation and the intensive work that has been done in the past 
there is no indication that this field has been sufficiently 
cultivated or is approaching exhaustion. It is evident that 
aboriginal manners and customs are rapidly disappearing, but 
notwithstanding that disappearance much remains unknown, 
and there has come a more urgent necessity to preserve for 
posterity by adequate record the many survivals before they 
disappear forever. 
Theremnants of languages once spoken by large populations 
have dwindled to survivals spoken by one or more centeria- 
rians, and when they die these tongues, if not recorded, will 
be lost forever. Such a fate nearly happened with an Indian 
tongue in California last year on account of a contagious dis- 
ease, but fortunately, through the field work of one of our 
staff, it was rescued before its extinction.’ 
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