OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. XXIII 



tween the particular visible forms produced by different peo- 

 ples for the several ideas. Colonel Mallery's paper on sign- 

 language in the First Annual Report of the Bureau has been 

 copied and noticed in scientific publications to such an extent 

 as to awaken correspondence and collaboration of great value 

 in the completion of the monograph on the subject in which he 

 has been engaged. In addition, he has commenced an Intro- 

 duction to the Study of Pictographs, with the hope of obtain- 

 ing similar assistance in that study, so closely connected with 

 the one last mentioned — sign language being the transient direct 

 expression, and pictographs the permanent direct expression, 

 of ideas to the eye. The latter became the indirect expression 

 when applied in the shape of writing to record oral speech. 

 To the forms of pictographs, therefore, may probably be traced 

 the structure of all the characters of writing used by man. 

 The subject includes, besides ideographs, the interpretation of 

 conventionalized or symbolic designs and the evolution of 

 graphic art. Interesting results are expected from the* com- 

 parison of the large amount of material collected from North 

 America with that known to exist in other parts of the world. 



MORTUARY CUSTOMS, BY DR. H. C. YARROW, U. S. A. 



Dr. Yarrow has continued researches into the mortuary cus- 

 toms of the North American Indians, with discussion of com- 

 parisons with them and parallels to them taken from history 

 and all authorities in print or otherwise attainable. The large 

 correspondence conducted and the fund of information accu- 

 mulated for the monograph on this subject, in preparation by 

 him, will render it exhaustive, while the correlation of facts 

 collected increases its importance in relation to the philosophy 

 and psychology of the whole human family. The scope of 

 this work, the interest in which is popular as well as scientific, 

 has been already explained in the Fii-st Annual Report. 



INDIAN CESSIONS OF LAND, BY MR. C. C. ROYCE. 



Mr. C. C. Royce was engaged during the year in the prep- 

 aration of a Historical Atlas of Indian affairs, designed to show 



