36 REPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 



figures, but more commonly bj^ colors; and for tlie first time material has been 

 obtained in sufficient quantity to afford presumptively complete series of designs for 

 certain groups of aborigines at certain periods antedating Caucasian invasion, so 

 tbat various stages in the development of esthetic designs may be traced nearly as 

 definitely as in the Florida collection. In general the course of development traced 

 in this way is parallel to that made out on the Florida coast. The course of devel- 

 opment is from the essentially (though often crudely) symbolic to the conventional, 

 and through various stages of conventionizing to forms and colors which, at first 

 sight, would be regarded as decorative merely. 



Accordingly the coUection is important as a source of new light on the develop- 

 ment of artistic concepts, while, at the same time, that course of developmental 

 succession which it so clearly attests has been used successfully in tracing certain 

 movements of the aboriginal population. It has long been knoAvn that, while most 

 of the traditions of the piieblo peoples recount migrations in a soiitherly or south- 

 easterly direction, there are subordinate indications of a northerly or northeasterly 

 drift from snowless lowlands or from saline and shell-yielding shores, and at least 

 one of the collaborators (Mr. McGee) has found indications of a culture migration 

 from the once populous valleys of Sonera, with adjacent refuges in the form of 

 entrenched mountains, northward into the region of cliff houses, whence the mesa- 

 protected pueblos seem to have sprung. Now Dr. Fewkes is able to trace a similar 

 northward drift of the esthetic designs characterizing the aboriginal pottery of the 

 pueblos. This application of the researches in the development of esthetics among 

 the American Indians is essentially new and is highly suggestive. Some of the 

 results of the work are already incorporated in reports prepared for publication ; 

 others are held for comparison and elaboration as the research progresses. 



While in Zufii, and afterward at Sia, Mrs. Matilda Coxe SteA^enson gave special 

 attention to the masks and other regalia used in ceremonies, and, as already noted, 

 obtained a number of especially sacred masks. She found the ceremonial regalia to 

 be essentially symbolic; the masks themselves represent zoic deities, and their 

 appurtenances are designed to express real or ideal attributes of the animals deified, 

 while the associated regalia and insignia, including apparel and the paint applied 

 to faces, bodies, and extremities, are symbolic of similar or related concepts. All 

 of the symbols are conventiouized in greater or less degree, yet the accompaniments 

 of voice and gesture, and eveu the terms of the ritual, are designed to emphasize 

 the symbolism, i. e., to concentrate attention on the idea symbolized and divert 

 attention from the conveutionism. 



Primarily the ceremonies and regalia are dramaturgic, and the use of the more 

 important regalia is limited to the ceremonial representation; yet to some extent 

 the mystical or sacred characteristics are supposed to cling to the actors in the mys- 

 tical drama, and in some measure affect their everyday life; sometimes the actors are 

 thereby strengthened in their positions as shamans, and they, as Avell as others, may 

 continue to wear the less important regalia., or carry about their persons miniature 

 symbols of the specially deific objects. In this way the devotional sentiment and 

 the symbolism in which it is crystallized are expressed in everyday life and common- 

 jjlace manners; and the devotion and symbol! -m find some expression in ordinary 

 handiwork and still clearer expression in the more unusual handiwork involved in 

 making and decorating the many articles connected with ceremonial rites. The 

 observations are highly significant, in that they indicate the characteristics and tlie 

 dominant influence of devotional sentiment among primitive peoples; they are 

 especially useful, too, in that they aid in interpreting the symbolism dej^icted on 

 prehistoric relics and corroborate the interpretations already rendered. 



In 1877 Mr. E. W. Nelson, an acute observer and trained naturalist, was commis- 

 sioned to make collections for the United States National Museum in Alaska and 

 adjacent territory in North America and Asia. In connection with other duties, 

 he was authorized to make ethnologic studies and collections among the Eskimo 

 and other Indians at the cost of the Bureau soon after its institution. He spent 



