FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 



BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY 



By J. W. Powell, Director 



INTRODUCTION 



Researches among the American Indians were continued 

 during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, in accordance 

 with law. 



The immediate purpose in instituting these researches and 

 in organizing the Bureau in 1S7'J was the discovery of the 

 relations among the native American tribes, to the end that 

 amicable groups might be gathered on reservations. This 

 practical demand for the early researches conducted by the 

 Bureau led directly and unavoidably to an innovation in ethnic 

 classification. In earlier elassific systems mankind, like the 

 lower animals, were classed by somatologic or physical char- 

 acters — races were defined by color of skin and by structure 

 and form of hair, while subdivisions of the primary races were 

 defined by stature, conformation of skull, form of nose, atti- 

 tude and color of eyes, etc. Anterior to the institution of the 

 Bureau this method of classifying peoples came into vogue on 

 the American continent, and a not inconsiderable part of the 

 literature of the aborigines related to the somatologic features 

 of their tribes and to supposed affinities indicated thereby; 

 though it is just to say that the greater part of such literature 

 originated abroad or in American centers far removed from the 

 habitats of the aboriginal tribes. Even before the institution 

 of the Bureau, yet still more during- ensuing years, it was 

 ascertained by observation among the American Indians that 



