XLIV REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. 



charactp:rization of accompanying papers 



SUBJECTS TREATED 



Six special treatises are appended to, and form the body 

 of, this report. The first is an ilhistrated paper on the textile 

 art of the aborigines of eastern United States; it comprises 

 descriptions and illustrations of textile art products preserved 

 from the prehistoric past in various Avays, and the relics are 

 interpreted by means of the records of explorers and pioneers. 

 The second paper is a synoptical description of the stone art 

 of the native races, also of eastern United States, as exempli- 

 fied in the collections of the Bureau of Ethnology; this article, 

 too, being profusely illustrated. The third treatise pertains to 

 the chiefly prehistoric aboriginal works of the Verde valley, 

 Arizona. It elucidates clearly, by means of maps, plans, and 

 pictures, as well as by verbal statement, the mode of life of 

 the aborigines of the far southwest, while yet they remained 

 free from accultural influences. To it the fourth paper is 

 closely related in subject, though distinct in the sources of 

 information. It is a description of the dwellings, furniture, 

 and implements of one of the tribes of the northern plains, 

 based on direct observations of the evanescent structures pro- 

 duced by the Avandering tribesmen. The fifth paper com- 

 prises a detailed and illustrated account of the prehistoric 

 "Great House" (Casa Grande), which was already ruined 

 when Coronado traversed the arid plains of the southwest in 

 1540, and which has been deemed by statesmen of such im- 

 portance as a relic of the past that steps have been taken to 

 insure its preservation. The sixth treatise is a part of the rich 

 body of tradition preserved among the Zuni Indians, trans- 

 lated almost literally into the English, with a brief introduc- 

 tion explaining the bearings of the singularly picturesque cos- 

 mogony of this tribe. 



Considered geographically, two of the papers treat of east- 

 ern United States, one of the northern-central portion of the 

 country, and tliree of the arid region of the southwest, all 

 finding their subjects within the national domain. Classified 



