vi PREFACE. 



Institution, to be consolidated and published with a still larger amount 

 collected from various sources, through the officers and collaborators of that 

 Institution. 



The materials collected by the Smithsonian Institution, together with a 

 part collected by myself, were placed in the hands of Mr George Gibbs, that 

 eminent ethnologist and linguist, to be published in the Smithsonian Contri- 

 butions under his editorial management. By his death this plan of publica- 

 tion was necessarily delayed. By this time the materials in my hands had 

 increased to such an extent that it seemed but justice to my assistants and 

 myself that it should be published with as little delay as possible. I there- 

 fore laid the whole matter before Prof. Joseph Henry, Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, that I might have the benefit of his advice on the 

 subject. He kindly gave consideration to the matter, and a full review of 

 the subject led to the following correspondence : 



" Department of the Interior, 

 "U. S. Geog. and Geol. Survey Rocky Mountain Region, 



"J. W. Powell, Geologist in Charge, 

 ''Washington, B. C, October 2, 1876. 



" Sir : Knowing that the Smithsonian Institution has been for many 

 years making collections of vocabularies of various North American lan- 

 guages and dialects, I beg leave to make the following statement and sug- 

 gestion : 



" I have myself been collecting vocabularies of many of the same tribes, 

 in which work I have been assisted by several gentlemen who are making 

 studies of North American Indians, and thus I have on hand a large amount 

 of linguistic material, consisting of vocabularies, grammatic notices, &c., 

 which I desire to publish at an early date. In the continuance of this lin- 

 guistic work it will be of very great advantage to have the material in the 

 hands of the Smithsonian Institution published immediately, so that in the 

 future there will be no duplication of what has already been accomplished. 

 It would also seem wise to consolidate the Smithsonian material with my 

 own. I therefore beg leave to suggest that the material in your hands may 

 be turned over to me for publication. 



