SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 



III- IIIE 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



Bv J. W. Powell, Director 



INTRODUCTION 



Ethnologic researches have been carried forward through- 

 out the fiscal year ending June 30, 189fi, in accordance 

 with the act of Congress making provision "for continuing 

 ethnological researches among the American Indians, under 

 the direction of the Smithsonian Institution," approved ^larch 

 •2, 1895. 



The purpose of ethnologic research is the discovery of rela- 

 tions among tribes and peoples. The relations sought may be 

 either structural or activital. Ethnologic inquiry began many 

 vears ago. Throughout the civilized world men of research 

 had engaged in the study of tribal man. Tlieir inquiries were 

 directed mainly toward the discovery of physical character- 

 istics, and toward the definition of races in terms of such 

 characteristics. Much work of tliis kind was done, and a great 

 body of useful data pertaining to tribal men was accumulated. 

 When this Bureau was instituted in 1879, the primary purpose 

 contemplated by statesmen was the practical definition of tribes 

 in such terms as to guide officials engaged in grouping the 

 Indians on reservations; and tlie experience gained through 

 the inquiry soon demonstrated that the relations of practical 

 moment are not physical but demotic. Thus immediate prac- 

 tical needs forced inquiry toward relations transcending those 

 discovered among beasts by biologists, and led to a study of 

 the essentially human activities. 



