CHARACTERIZATION OF ACCOMPANYING PAPERS 



SUBJECTS TREATED 



Three special papers illustrating the methods and results of 

 operations in the Bureau are appended to this report. The first 

 of these is a monograph on the Menomini Indians, prepared by 

 Dr W. J. Hoffman; it represents the results of studies of this 

 tribe carried forward in connection with other duties during the 

 years 1890, 1891, and 1892. The second paper is a literal 

 reproduction of the only authentic copy known of Castaneda's 

 account of the Coronado expedition through the territory now 

 included in northern Mexico and southwestern United States, 

 together with an English translation by Mr George Parker 

 Winship, of Harvard University. These two papers are*incor- 

 porated in this volume. The third paper, which forms part 2 

 of this report, is an extended account of the so-called "ghost- 

 dance religion" which prevailed widely among the Indians of 

 the United States, particularly during the winter of 1891-92; 

 it was prepared by Mr James Moonev, after visiting most of 

 the tribes affected by this remarkable mental epidemic. 



The range in subject-matter of the accompanying papers is 

 broad. One renders accessible for the first time the earliest trust- 

 worthy observations of the Indians of the southwest; another 

 presents a clear picture of an interesting interior tribe, and con- 

 nects the living persons, customs, institutions, and beliefs with 

 their natural ancestry back to the first coming of white men 

 and the beginning of history in their region ; the third depicts 

 in strong colors certain characteristics of the primitive beliefs 

 persisting among- the Indians down to the present. 



THE MENOMINI INDIANS 



This interesting tribe, a branch of the great Algonquian 

 stock, has been known by white men since the middle of the 

 seventeenth century. From the beginning they were the "rice- 



