ON THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, 449 



women among tlie Halkome'lEm tribes, past or present, as far as we can 

 learn. That these mound builders are an old race, and some of their tombs 

 of great age, we may gather from the fact that out of the crown of the 

 one from which the deformed skull was taken — and which was probably 

 the cause of its partial preservation — there stood the decaying stump of 

 a large cedar-tree, which could not have been less than several centuries 

 old. From this it is clear that this mode of sepulture dates back to a 

 comparatively remote period, too remote, I think, to have been known 

 or practised by the ancestoi's of the Halkome'lEm tribes. Deep-rooted 

 customs such as these widely scattered monuments of a bygone age reveal 

 do not change easily, or give place readily to others so radically ditferent. 

 In concluding this paper I may be permitted to briefly sum up thfe 

 results of my investigations of the archaeological remains found within the 

 Halkome'lEm borders. First, we gather from the evidence of the older 

 middens that the Lower Fraser was in possession of a primitive people 

 at a comparatively remote date, probably not less than 2,000 years ago ; 

 that the cephalic index and the general contours of the heads of at least 

 some of these differed radically from those of any tribe that now exists 

 or has been known to exist here ; and that these or some other equally 

 unknown people practised impoitant mortuary rights and customs alto- 

 gether unlike those practised by the present tribes, or known to have 

 been practised in the past by them. From these results and from my 

 linguistic studies, which show that the speech of the Halkome'lEm tribes, 

 distantly separated as some of them are, is practically homogeneous, 

 which could certainly not be the case if these scattered tribes had occupied 

 the Lower Fraser district from the period of the earlier middens and 

 burial mounds, we may fairly conclude that the present Salish tribes are 

 not the original occupiers of this portion of the province ; that they are, 

 in fact, comparative late-comers. Who, or of what race, were the ancient 

 midden and mound builders, whether they were i-elated to the De'ne' of 

 the interior who once undoubtedly occupied a greater portion of Southern 

 British Columbia than they do now, or to some other unknown race which 

 has been exterminated or absorbed, future investigations may one day 

 reveal to us. 



Arvthropological Photographs. — Interim Report of the Cummittee, con" 

 siskin*/ o/Mr. C. H. Bead (C/iaw-mfMi), Mr. J. L. Myres ((Secre- 

 tanj), Dr. J. G. Garson, Mr. H. Ling Roth, Mr. H. Balfour, 

 Mr. E. S. Hartland, aiul Professor Flinders Petrie, apijointed 

 for the Collection, Freser nation., and Si/stematic Eegistration of 

 Pliotographs of Anthropological Interest. 



The Committee report that steady progress has been made with the 

 registration of anthropological photographs ; but that it has seemed 

 desirable to postpone once more the publication of a clas.sified list until 

 the numerous photographs recently submitted can be thoroughly cata- 

 logued and cross-referenced. 



The thanks of the Committee are especially due to the Librarian of 

 the India Office, and to the Royal Geographical Society, for leave to 

 register the large collections of photographs under their care : as well as 



190:J. G o 



