i9& 



NA TURE 



[October i i, 1906 



Canadian clergy and missionaries who attended the con- 

 ferences ; the missionaries were hearty, bronzed, bearded 

 men, mainly in the brown or white robes of their several 

 orders ; many of them contributed papers, and several 

 joined in the discussions. An exceptionally large number 

 of papers was promised, but owing to the non-appearance 

 of many authors, most of whom were Americans, the 

 actual number read was not excessive, and there was 

 generally time for a short discussion ; it is a common fault 

 of congresses that too much time is occupied by the read- 

 ing of papers, many of which are of limited interest, and 

 too little time is provided for discussion of problems of 

 general interest; it is scarcely an exaggeration to state 

 that the most valuable discussions were the informal ones 

 that took place on the precipice-poised Dufferin Terrace. 



The papers that were read fell into two or three groups, 

 of which the more important were Canadian ethnology and 

 Central American archaeology. The former were mainly 

 provided by missionaries, who, from their long residence 

 among the tribes of whom they treated and their know- 

 ledge of the languages, were able to give faithful and de- 

 tailed accounts of the customs and mode of life of the 

 people : but the scientific hearers could not always feel a 

 perfect reliance upon the interpretation of customs and 

 ideas by certain observers, their point of view being so 

 different. 



The genial Father .Morice was much in evidence, and 

 he read a long paper on the position of women among the 

 D^n^s, or .-Xthapascans, as they are generally termed. He 

 described the five different ways in which marriage may 

 be contracted, and related the deplorable part of the women 

 during the funeral ceremonies which accompany cremation, 

 and during widowhood in general. He repeatedly referred 

 to the slight consideration paid to women, the men treat- 

 ing them no better than dogs ; one would like to hear 

 what the women themselves really think of the matter, but 

 this information could only be obtained by sympathetic 

 white women from native women. This side of similar 

 questions has hardly ever been obtained, and it promises 

 inost important results. Father Pacifique, a missionary 

 among the Micmacs, considers the n\anitu$, or guardian 

 spirits, of that tribe as of " truly diabolical nature," and 

 states that these Indians have now conceived a profound 

 aversion against them, and gained such an attachment to 

 the true God and to the Church that religion has become 

 a second nature to them. The good man apparently has 

 not realised that the Indians were previously saturated 

 with spiritual ideas, and that their religious sense is by no 

 means the result of the foreign doctrine. 



The Rev. J. Jett^, .S.J., stated that the Ten'a, an 

 .\laskan tribe living on the Yukon River, not only have 

 no chiefs or rulers, but lack a word that signifies chief, or 

 authority, or even family. Individual authority in any 

 form is unbearable to the tribe. They are controlled solely 

 by public opinion, and no individual thinks for himself; as 

 they do act spontaneously they are most untrustworthy, 

 and the stupidity of their obedience is appalling. Wealth 

 and influence make the people who own them the natural 

 advisers of the tribe, but they do not confer any real 

 authority. Dr. F. Boas gave a valuable paper on the 

 most important unsolved ethnological problems in Canada ; 

 of particular importance is archaeological investigation of 

 the extreme north-western .Arctic region, in order to deter- 

 mine the influence of the Indian and of the Asiatic cultures 

 upon the western Eskimo. The prehistoric distribution of 

 tvpes, as well as the present types, of the interior of 

 Labrador and of the Mackenzie Basin require investigation. 

 The linguistic subdivisions of the Algonquin and the 

 .\thapascan are not sufficiently known, and extended collec- 

 tions of linguistic material from the Salish tribes, from 

 the Nootka, as well as from the northern branches of the 

 KwakiutI of British Columbia, are required. The early 

 history of the eastern Algonquin still presents many obscure 

 jjoints. A particularly promising region is the interior of 

 Labrador. 



Prof. McCurdy exhibited a large number of lantern-slides 

 to illustrate an extensive collection of pottery in Yale 

 University from Chiriqui which is decorated with re- 

 presentations of the armadillo, the treatment including all 

 stages from realism to extreme conventionalism, and Dr. 



NO. 1928, VOL. 74] 



Gordon, of the Philadelphia Museum, illustratid an 

 analogous series of rattlesnake motives in Central .\merican 

 and Mexican art. Miss .\ngel de Cora, of the Winebago 

 tribe, described her efforts to revive among the Indian 

 students of the Government school at Carlisle the decor- 

 ative art of their respective tribes ; the experiment has 

 met with great success, and the Indians have begun to 

 recover their national pride and an interest in their 

 legendary lore. Miss Natalie Curtis, who has travelled 

 much in North .-Vmerica and lived among various tribes in 

 order to study their music and songs, sung before the 

 congress a delightful series of various types of Indian 

 songs ; these were faithfully rendered with great spirit. 



.Several papers were given by the veteran Dr. .Seler on 

 his recent discoveries in Mexico, and he joined in many 

 discussions ; and Senor L. Batres, of Me.xico, gave a long, 

 copiously illustrated account of his recent excavations in 

 Teotihuacan. Dr. Tozzer gave an interesting account of 

 his field work in Central .\merica. The Maya of \'ucatan 

 are at present all Catholic, but they still retain a consider- 

 able number of their old beliefs and customs, although in 

 a modified form. The Lacandones, who are comparatively 

 free from outside influence, retain many of their ancient 

 customs. They make pilgrimages to ruined cities, where 

 they offer incense to the gods, making offering> of copal 

 placed in the bowls of incense burners. Idols are anointed 

 with blood drawn from the ear. The names and attributes 

 of deities recorded by early Spanish writers have also 

 survived ; but no knowledge of the hieroglyphic writing 

 survives, a circumstance which appears to be due to the 

 extinction of the noble and priestly castes ; the surviving 

 population probablv represents the descendants of the 

 ancient common people, who, while having a general super- 

 ficial knowledge of ceremonial religion, would not be in- 

 structed in esoteric religion or in ceremonial lore. 



The above are some of the subjects brought before this 

 congress, and are sufficient to show the range of subjects 

 dealt with ; from this point of view the congress was very 

 successful, and not less was this the case from the social 

 aspect. Government officials and private citizens did their 

 best to render the congress a success, and especial thanks 

 are due to the staff of Laval University, who by their 

 assiduitv, urbanity, and diplomacy helped to make every- 

 thing go smoothly. The weather, too, was all that could 

 be desired. 



.Abstracts of nearly all the papers were printed and dis- 

 tributed to members and associates, who were also pro- 

 vided with a local guide-book and various publications, 

 amongst which may be noted a special number of the 

 Transactions of the Department of .\rchaeology of the 

 University of Pennsylvania (vol. ii., part i.). The Pro- 

 vincial Government of Quebec gave two volumes dealing 

 with geographical names in Quebec. The Provincial 

 Government of Ontario presented the archaeological report 

 of the Department of Instruction ; this contains a number 

 of valuable papers on the archaeology, anthropology, and 

 ethnology of Canada by authors of repute ; indeed, it forms 

 a very welcome statement of the present state of our 

 knowledge of these subjects. The University of California 

 contributed a report, by Putnam and Merriam, on cave 

 exploration in California, and the American .\nthropo- 

 logical Association a report on anthropology in .\merica 

 since the New York meeting, iqo2. .\ series of publi- 

 cations, bv L. Batres, was given by the Commission of 

 Inspection and Preservation of Antiquities of Mexico. 



It is to be hoped that one result of the congress will 

 be to encourage the central and provincial governments 

 and the learned societies of the Dominion to take a greater 

 interest in their native peoples. Unfortunately there has 

 been great neglect in this respect, and if those in authority 

 do not bestir themselves it will soon be too late, as the 

 opportunities for successful work are rapidly disappearing. 

 The British Association has given a small grant for many 

 vears towards ethnological research in British Columbia, 

 and for the last year or two the Government grant com- 

 mittee has continued this work ; valuable results have been 

 obtained, but this is but a drop in the bucki't, and 

 ethnologists look to the Canadian governments to lomplete 

 the work in a manner worthv of a great countrv. 



A. C. HAuroK. 



