OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. XIX 



history or exploration were these two stages of human prog- 

 ress so well exemplified as by the Indian tribes of North 

 America, with such diversities as vai-ying degrees of advance- 

 ment and varying degrees of envii'onment of the several tribes 

 would naturally produce. From the ascei'tained laws govern- 

 ing that advance, from the uniformity of their operation, and 

 from the necessary limitations of the development of intelli- 

 gence, it may be inferred that our own remote ancestors passed 

 through a similar experience and possessed corresponding in- 

 stitutions. By this study, therefore, some portion of the lost 

 history of our own race may be recovered, the Aryan family 

 having preserved but to a limited extent, and that uncon- 

 sciously, the data of its history prior to the closing period of 

 barbarism. 



Mr. Morgan concludes from his researches that the family, 

 during the above-mentioned stages of progress, was too weak 

 an organization to face alone the struggle of life, and sought a 

 shelter for itself in large households composed of several fami- 

 lies. The house for a single family was exceptional through- 

 out aboriginal America, while the house large enough to 

 accommodate several families was the rule. Moreover, the 

 habitations were occupied as joint tenement houses. There 

 was also a tendency to form the households on the principle 

 of gentile kin, the mothers with their children being of the 

 same gens or clan. 



The contents of the volume, which is illustrated by many 

 plans and sketches, include: social and governmental organiza- 

 tion; the law of hospitality and its general practice; com- 

 munism in living; usages and customs with respect to land 

 and food ; and descriptions of the houses of Indians, classed as, 

 1st, those north of New Mexico ; 2d, those of the sedentary 

 Indians of New Mexico; 3d, houses in ruins of the sedentary 

 Indians of the San Juan river and its tributaries; 4th, houses 

 of the mound-builders; 5th, of the Aztecs, or ancient Mexi- 

 cans; and, 6th, of the sedentary Indians of Yucatan and Cen- 

 tral America. 



The work is of the highest value in correcting errors and 

 exaggerations still prevalent, in removing the misconceptions 



