790 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 884 



vision consists of a scientific staff of three — 

 the writer, who was put in charge as ethnolo- 

 gist and anthropologist on the date already 

 given; Mr. C. M. Barbeau, whose appointment 

 as assistant in anthropology began with Jan- 

 uary 1, 1911 ; and Mr. Harlan I. Smith, form- 

 erly of the American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York, whose appointment as 

 •archeologist took place on June 15 of the same 

 .year. The appointment of three men to the 

 scientific staff within a year is not to be taken 

 -as mere mushroom growth, but primarily as 

 -an evidence of the clear insight on the part of 

 the Canadian government into the needs of 

 •anthropology; it was understood at the very 

 beginning that the various scientific interests 

 involved in the term anthropology could not 

 well be successfully undertaken by one man. 

 As it is, the services of a physical anthropol- 

 ogist are badly needed, and it is hoped that 

 before a great lapse of time this important 

 branch of anthropological work will also be 

 adequately provided for. 



The work being undertaken by the division 

 is naturally confined in the first instance to 

 Canada itself. However, it is clear that to 

 draw a hard and fast line between Canada and 

 Alaska, Greenland, and the United States is 

 in many respects artificial. Owing to the ne- 

 cessity of including Alaska and Greenland in 

 a general study of the Eskimos, it goes with- 

 out saying that these territories will at least 

 to a certain extent have to be included in the 

 work of the division. In the case of tribes 

 which, like the Ojibwa and Iroquois, are 

 found within the borders of both Canada and 

 the United States, it is clear that the division 

 will be called upon from time to time to pass 

 the boundary. In some cases, as in that of the 

 Ottawas and Wyandots of Oklahoma, what 

 were formerly Canadian tribes have moved far 

 south well within the bounds of the United 

 States ; also in these cases " trespassing " is 

 logically necessary. 



So much for the geographical limits set. 

 The subject matter of the work undertaken 

 may be conveniently classed under the heads 

 of ethnology, archeology, physical anthropol- 

 ogy, for which, as already noted, there is at 



present no adequate provision, and linguistics. 

 While it is perfectly clear that cultural, phys- 

 ical and linguistic units do not need to, and 

 in numerous instances actually do not, coin- 

 cide, it should be emphasized that all three 

 classes of units are to a large extent inter- 

 woven; not infrequently slim evidence for a 

 point of reconstructed culture-history ob- 

 tained from the study of one of these may be 

 strengthened and even reduced to certainty by 

 evidence derived from a study of one of the 

 others. It is no mere accident that the Eski- 

 mos form a clearly established unit as regards 

 culture, physical type and language. It is 

 thus clear at the outset that any thorough- 

 going attempt to attack the problems of abo- 

 riginal America must make use of all three 

 units of classification. 



To many it will seem that much has al- 

 ready been done in the study of Canadian 

 ethnology. Relatively to other parts of the 

 world that might be named this is true. The 

 results of the Jesup North Pacific expedition 

 have done much to clear up the cultural prob- 

 lems of the West Coast; the culture of the 

 Eskimos in its main outlines and, in certain 

 cases, even in detail can be said to be well as- 

 certained through the researches undertaken, 

 among others, by the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology and the American Museum of 

 Natural History; finally, the Plains and 

 Eastern Woodlands cultures have been studied 

 to a limited degree by Wissler and Hoffman, 

 to mention but two of the ethnologists who 

 have concerned themselves with these areas." 

 Relatively, however, to the standard that must 

 be set for ethnological work both in complete- 

 ness and thoroughness, the work already ac- 

 complished represents but a small fraction of 

 what students of primitive cultures would like 

 to see done. Each of the five culture areas 

 into which it is customary to divide Canada 

 (Eastern Woodlands, Arctic or Eskimo, 

 Plains, Plateau-Mackenzie and West Coast) 

 still present problems of great importance; in 



^ The late Dr. William Jones is known to have 

 obtained a mass of valuable ethnological and lin- 

 guistic data on the Ojibwa, but his results are as 

 yet inaccessible to students. 



