ON MASKS, LABRETS, AND CERTAIN ABORIGINAL CUSTOMS, WITH AN INQUIRY 

 INTO THE BEARING OF THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



By W. H. Dall. 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



Some years since, at the suggestion of the Director of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, I took up tbe subject of masks, with special relation to those 

 of the Pacific coast of America. Circumstances prevented an immedi- 

 ate prosecution of the work to a close ; meanwhile, in 1878, I had the 

 opportunity of examining material bearing on this topic contained in 

 the principal museums of Great Britain and of Northern Europe, except 

 Russia. The study of these collections resulted in a conviction that 

 the subject was one of deeper import, and more widely extended rami- 

 fications than I had, up to that time, had any conception of; and that 

 one who had thoroughly mastered it would be possessed of the keys to 

 the greater part of the mystery which locks from us the philosophical 

 religious and social 1 development of uncivilized or savage man. 



This conviction led to a disinclination to attempt a superficial treat- 

 ment of a subject of such importance. Under the circumstances it 

 appeared in the highest degree unlikely that it would be practicable 

 for me to devote to it a study which would be appropriately thorough. 

 Partly through the claims of official duties of a different character, and 

 partly in the hope that some one else would take the subject up with 

 time and opportunity of giving to it the attention it deserves, prepara- 

 tions for publication of the projected article have, until recently, been 

 deferred. 



No one coming forward with such a purpose, it has become necessary 

 that the original promise should be, in some part at least, fulfilled ; and 

 therefore the present article has been prepared, rather in the hope that 

 it may prove a stimulus to more adequate investigation of the topic, 

 than with any idea that it contains more than suggestions toward di- 

 recting future researches into suitable channels. It will be avowedly 

 a matter of sketching land-marks and indicating openings to possible 

 harbors, rather than a survey with soundings and sailing directions. 



1 Considered in its public or communal aspect, especially that of public games or 

 amusements. 



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