Washington, D. C , April 5, 1880. 



Dear Sir: I have the honor to offer for your consideration the follow- 

 ing paper upon the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians, and 

 trust it may meet with your approval as an introduction to the study of a 

 subject which, while it has been alluded to by most authors, has received 

 little or no systematic treatment For this and other reasons I was induced 

 some three years since to commence an examination and collection of data 

 relative to the matter, and the present paper is the outcome of that effort. 

 From the vast amount of material in the Bureau of Ethnology, even at the 

 present time, a large volume might be prepared, but it was thought wiser 

 to endeavor to obtain a still greater array of facts, especially from living 

 observers. If the desired end is attained I shall not count as lost the labor 

 which has been bestowed. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



H. C. YARROW. 

 Maj. J. W. Powell, 



In charge of Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution. 



