4 INTRODUCTION. 



to consult him about the more immediate publication of a work which, 

 it seemed to him, should, under the title of a "Dictionary of Indian 

 Tribes," open all these treasures of information to the inquirer, in the 

 fonn of a manual or handy volume, or volumes (at most two in number), 

 which can be published now, and which is intended to present a brief 

 summary of what is most important to Congress in the fund of knowl- 

 edge recorded in the greater series of the annual reports of the Bureau 

 or elsewhere, or in the great amount of its original material as yet un- 

 published, all presented in an alphabetical arrangement for ready 

 reference. 



Congress may find here in brief what is most important of every- 

 thing that interests a legislator: an article, for example, on "Treaties," 

 giving all that the succinctness of the Dictionary admits about treaties, 

 with a reference to the original information in the annual volumes, 

 where it will be found at greater length. 



Again, among the first considerations of the ethnologist is the one as 

 to the different stocks or families to which different or related tribes 

 belong, and these families, it is found, are far better definable by their 

 languages than by any other single consideration. It is a most nota- 

 ble fact that there is a greater distinction among the languages of 

 many of our Indian tribes than among the different nations of Europe. 

 They are not dialects of a common language, but they differ from each 

 other as Latin and Greek, or Russian and Spanish, and these languages 

 represent as many radical differences of habit, religion, etc. The lingu- 

 istics of the tribes, then, form a starting-point of any classification 

 which distinguishes the different physical and geographical conditions, 

 manners, customs, laws, and religions. 



An unfortunate delay, connected with the late Major Powell's failing 

 health, has occurred in the preparation of this proposed Dictionary, but 

 the accompanying advance pages are intended to show the scope and 

 kind of work which is now being carried on and which it is expected will 

 be published during the present calendar year. Incidentally I hope this 

 work may serve as an added memorial to one who gave his life to a great 

 work and earned by his devotion to it the trust of Congress. 



S. P. Langley, 

 Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. 



