826 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1119 



Another source of confusion in this direction is 

 in the improper designation as "Indian" for ad- 

 ministrative purposes, of any individual who can 

 establish even the most remote and diluted Indian 

 ancestry. Thus we have upon the official rolls, and 

 thereby legally entitled to full Indian rights, 

 thousands of persons whose pedigrees show one- 

 thirty-second, one-sisty-fourth, or even less of In- 

 dian blood. We need an ofiicial, or at least an 

 ethnologic, definition of an Indian, based on the 

 actual proportion of Indian blood. In a detailed 

 study of past and present Indian population of 

 the United States and northern territories, under- 

 taken for the Bureau of American Ethnology, Mr. 

 Mooney arrives at the conclusion that the entire 

 Indian population north of Mexico at the period 

 of earliest white occupancy was approximately 

 1,140,000, of whom about 860,000 were within the 

 present limits of the United States. The total 

 number has been reduced by about two thirds 

 through disease, famine and war, consequent on 

 the advent of the white man. 



Indian Missions in North America: J. F. X. 



O'CONOE. 



Indian missions were established in various 

 states of North America during two hundred and 

 fifty years, from 1613 to 1776, and from that date 

 to 1893. The Indian tribes evangelized during 

 that period were the Abnakis and the Iroquois, 

 the Ottawas, Illinois, Mohawks, the Hurons, Onon- 

 dagas, the Oneidas, Cayugas, Senecas, Seminoles, 

 the Neuter Nation and the Algonquins, the Kas- 

 kaskias, the Natchez tribe, the Tazoos, the Sioux, 

 the Chiekasaws and the Nezperces, the Coeur 

 d'Alenes and the Miamis, the Alabamas and the 

 Susquehannas. The Jesuit missionaries visited all 

 these tribes, and among many built churches, mis- 

 sion houses and schools. They lived with the In- 

 dians, traveled with them, taught them and strove 

 in every way to bring to them the advantages of 

 Christianity and civilization. They traversed 

 every section of that territory now the United 

 States, from Maine to California, and from the 

 Great Lakes to Florida. These Indian missions 

 were connected with the discovery of the falls and 

 river of Niagara, the discovery of the Mississippi 

 by Marquette, and of Lake George and the salt 

 mines of Syracuse. The records of these earlier 

 missionaries are the most authentic and reliable 

 accounts of the early days of America, and of the 

 lives, customs, occupations, character, in peace and 

 war, of the Indian tribes of North America. 



Volumes have been written by the missionaries 

 on the lives and habits of the North American In- 

 dian, and the earlier valuable editions have been 

 republished in the monumental series of the 

 ' ' Jesuit Eelations " or " Histories of the Indian 

 Missions," by E. Goldthwaites, secretary of the 

 State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 



Recent Developments in the Study of Indian 



Music: Frances Densmore. 



The study of many sciences is dependent, to 

 some extent, on mechanical aid, and the progress 

 of such sciences is measured by the invention or 

 adaptation of such aids. The invention of the 

 phonograph and its recording apparatus marked 

 an epoch in the study of Indian music. It seems 

 probable that the next epoch-marking invention 

 bearing on this study will be that of a device for 

 accurately measuring small intervals of tone. 



The musical system in use among civilized peo- 

 ples contains certain fundamental principles, 

 among them being (a) the importance of the key- 

 note, octave, and dominant of the scale, and (6) 

 the use of a unit of rhythm. A melodic and 

 rhythmic analysis of six hundred Indian songs 

 (Chippewa and Sioux) shows that the same funda- 

 mental principles underlie the structure of a ma- 

 jority of these songs. 



The interval of the minor third characterizes the 

 folk-songs of certain European peoples, some of 

 the ancient music of the white race, and the songs 

 of many uncivilized tribes. Analysis of the above- 

 mentioned Indian songs shows that (o) the minor 

 third is the interval of most frequent occurrence, 

 and (6) the average interval in these songs com- 

 prises 3.1 semitones, which is approximately the 

 number of semitones contained in a minor third. 



Besides the studies mentioned, tests of tone per- 

 ception were made among Chippewa and Sioux 

 Indians, with interesting results. 

 The Beaver Indians: P. E. Goddakd. 



The Beaver have hitherto received little or no 

 attention from ethnologists. They live in the 

 Peace Eiver district in northern Alberta, with 

 bands of Cree separating them from the Plains 

 area. Life seems to have been simple in that re- 

 gion, consisting mainly in a severe struggle for 

 food. They depended largely on hunting and 

 trapping, resorting to fishing only in the lack of 

 other food. By means of caches, transportation 

 was avoided as much as possible. Eeligious life, 

 while simple and devoid of elaborate ceremonies, 

 was emotionally strong. The Beaver fall in with 

 the Slavey and Chipewyan in other particulars 



