SJL 



INTRODUCTION 



IN 1879 the investigations of the present Bureau of American Eth- 

 nology were begun, uiider the immediate direction of the late Major 

 J. W. Powell. I It was understood that a study of the languages, habits, 

 and customs of the Indian tribes inhabiting the northern portion of 

 this continent, and especially the territories of the United States, might 

 be made of great utility to Congress in providing the means of wise legis- 

 lation for these tribes. It was understood also that it might be made 

 of equal value to ethnological science, and Major Powell, who had passed 

 a very considerable part of his life among these Indians, and in immediate 

 personal contact with them, and who knew their languages and their 

 customs at first hand, as perhaps no other trained scientific observer did, 

 was placed in charge of the work, which was carried out in relation to 

 every branch of ethnological investigation, on a scale which promised 

 in time to furnish an exhaustive record of the languages, customs, arts, 

 and location of every tribe of the great number which were the wards 

 of Congress. The work grew as it proceeded, until, in the twenty-five 

 volumes published or in course of publication, it came to present the 

 greatest body of knowledge of this kind which has ever anywhere in any 

 time been gathered. It concerns not only the material history of each 

 tribe, but so much else that its very voluminousness makes it less easy 

 to find any special thing wanted. 



In view of the difficulty of finding, among the treasures of informa- 

 tion contained in these volumes, what is immediately needed on any 

 subject, it had long been the intention of Major Powell to produce a 

 voluminous work to be called "A Cyclopedia of Indian Tribes," whose 

 completion has been delayed by various causes, until the writer was led 



'In 1879 Congress made an appropriation for a report on Ethnology, and 

 ordered all the archives, records, and materials relating to the Indians of North 

 America, collected by Major Powell, to be turned over to the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, that the work might be completed and prepared for publication under its 

 direction. The then Secretary placed the administration of this Bureau in the 

 charge of Major Powell, whom he appointed July 9, 1879. The Powell survey 

 was placed by Congress under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, with- 

 out any solicitation on the Institution's part. It has endeavored faithfully to 

 discharge, however, the duty imposed upon it. In 1880 the appropriations were 

 made directly to the Secretary- of the Institution, who later asked to be relieved 

 from this personal responsibility, and since 1888 the appropriations have been 

 made to the "Smithsonian Institution." 



