XXVIII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



special attention were those connected with habitations. In 

 all [)arts of the American hemisphere the prevailing house 

 type is in some measure a blend of the indigenous and the 

 imported; while in most districts the imported motives are so 

 predominant that the indigenous elements are hardly traceable, 

 there are other districts, especially in tropical, subtropical, and 

 arid regions, in which the aboriginal types are of such excel- 

 lence that many elements have been retained with advantage 

 by Caucasian settlers. This is especially true in the Antilles, 

 where natural conditions of climate, water, and available ma- 

 terial have led to light and inexpensive types of construction 

 by which European settlers have been glad to profit. The 

 types are somewhat analogous to those which have been better 

 developed in the Orient, esjjecially by the Japanese, which are 

 frequently commended to the attention of Occidental builders. 

 When it is remembered that the prevailing Anglo-Saxon types 

 are suited to the rigorous climate of northw^estern Europe and 

 adaptations of materials developed in the northern temperate 

 zone, it becomes evident that they are not well adapted to our 

 southern temperate zone, still less to our tropical and subtrop- 

 ical possessions. Then, when it is remembered that the indig- 

 enous types, e. g., of Porto Rico, are specifically fitted to the 

 local climate and adaptations of local materials, it would seem 

 clear that architectural motives derived from them ought to be 

 even more useful than any borrowed from Japan. These con- 

 siderations have influenced the researches in Porto Rico, and 

 they are in part the motive of the special report on Porto Rico 

 prepared by Dr Fewkes. Other motives have reference to the 

 native food sources which have been found useful by genera- 

 tions of European settlers and aboriginal modes of food prepara- 

 tion which are of such excellence as to still survive. It appears 

 from the observations that several native foods are worthy of 

 attention and cultivation by settlers from the United States 

 and that some of the indigenous modes of preparing food may 

 well receive careful study with a view to maintaining the excel- 

 lence of the preparations when more advanced modes of hand- 

 Hng, milling, preserving, and transporting are introduced. The 

 details of Dr Fewkes's investigations are incorporated in a 



