4 ESTTRODUCTOKY. 



inducement to secure the service asked, since it is barely possible that you 

 can be otherwise than deeply interested in the extension of the bounds of 

 knowledge, full credit will be given you in the work for whatever informa- 

 tion you may be pleased to furnish. 



" This material will be published under the auspices of Prof. J. W. 

 Powell, in charge of the U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the 

 Rocky Mountain Region. 



" Communications may be addressed to me either at the address given 



above or at the Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. 



" Respectfully, yours, 



"H. C. YARROW." 



This was forwarded to every Indian agent, physicians at agencies, 

 to a great number of Army officers who had served or were serving at 

 frontier posts, and to individuals known to be interested in ethnologic 

 matters. A large number of interesting and valuable responses were re- 

 ceived, many of them showing how customs have changed either under 

 influences of civilization or altered circumstances of environment. . 



Following this, a comprehensive list of books relating to North Ameri- 

 can Indians was procured, and each volume subjected to careful scrutiny, 

 extracts being made from those that appeared in the writer's judgment relia- 

 ble. Out of a large number examined up to the present time, several hun- 

 dred have been laid under contribution, and the labor of further collation 

 still continues. 



It is proper to add that all the material obtained will eventually be 

 embodied in a quarto volume, forming one of the series of contributions to 

 North American Ethnology prepared under the direction of Maj. J. W. 

 Powell, Director of the Bureau of Ethnoiogy, Smithsonian Institution, 

 from whom, since the inception of the Avork, most constant encouragement 

 and advice has been received, and to whom all American ethnologists owe a 

 debt of gratitude which can never be repaid. 



Having thus called attention to the work and the methods pursued in 

 collecting data, the classification of the subject may be given and examples 

 furnished of the burial ceremonies among different tribes, calling especial 



