LXIV BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



antiquity. Dr Fewkes' interin-etation of the prehistoric objects 

 is suppleniented by Mr Mindeleff's rendering- of traditions and 

 ceremonial customs, developed in the shadowy past and per])et- 

 uated throug-h the generations uj) to the present. In somewhat 

 similar fashion Mr Mooney analyzes and interprets the oalen- 

 dric records and traditions of the Kiowa Indians in such man- 

 ner as to trace their history through many generations, and at 

 the same time he is able to verify tlie history and reduce it 

 to a fairh' definite chronology by identifying events as those 

 attending- the Caucasian invasion. Mr McGee's memoir is 

 devoted chiefly to the contemporary condition of the tribe 

 described, but attention is given to its history for the three and 

 a half centuries during which some of the outward character- 

 istics of the people have been known to Spanish and American 

 pioneers, while the prehistoric records of the region receive 

 some consideration. One of the ends of ethnologic reseai-ch is 

 the determination of the trend of tribal development; and the 

 investigations described in the accompanying papers have 

 been so directed as to cover a considerable period, with the 

 view of throwing light on the causes, conditions, and effects of 

 sequential progress among primitive peoples. 



The obverse ttf historical succession is cultural progress; and 

 the several papers exemi)lify almost the entii'e range of culture 

 status found among the American aborigines. Among these 

 aborigines known to Caucasians the Seri Indians appear to 

 stand nearly or (piite at the bottom of the scale. They are 

 without agricultural or other organized industries; they still 

 liaunt their primeval shorelands, and their fisheries are crude 

 and simple, while their watercraft (in which their culture cul- 

 minates) are practically individual in design, manufacture, ;(nd 

 function; and their social organization is of peculiarly signifi- 

 cant simplicit^'. Much higher in the scale of cultural advance- 

 ment stand the Kiowa Indians, who were successful huntsmen, 

 and had reached a peculiarly developed social organization 

 adjusted to their customs of chase and war. Still more ad- 

 vanced in some respects, though apparentl)' less so in otiiers, 

 were the Navaho tribesmen, who were proficient in the chase, 

 yet predominnntlv agricultural in industry and almost or(|uite 

 sedentarv in habit, though their social organization was but 



