EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 
OF THE 
BUR AW OR HTENOLOGY: 
By J. W. Poweti, Director. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The prosecution of research among the North American 
Indians, as directed by act of Congress, was continued during 
the fiscal year 1886-87. 
The general plan upon which the work has been prosecuted 
has been explained in former reports and has not been changed. 
After certain lines of investigation had been decided upon, they 
were confided to persons trained in their pursuit, with the 
intention that the results of their labors, when completed or 
well advanced, should be presented from time to time in the 
publications of the Bureau provided for by law. A brief state- 
ment of the work upon which each one of the special students 
was actively engaged during the fiscal year is furnished below, 
but this statement does not embrace all the studies under- 
taken or services rendered by them, since particular lines of 
research have been suspended in this, as in former years, in 
order to prosecute unto substantial completeness work regarded 
as of paramount importance. From this cause delays have 
been occasioned in the completion of several treatises and 
monographs, already partly in type, which otherwise would 
have been published. 
Invitation is renewed for the assistance of explorers, writers, 
and students who are not and may not desire to be officially 
connected with the Bureau. Their contributions, whether in 
8 ETH——II XVII 
