38 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



structure in Washington. It was at first designed to place it in tlie National 

 Museum, biit in view of the limitations of space it was afterward decided to locate 

 the building in the National Zoological Park. 



While supervising the Avork of the Indians on the wigwam, the Director and Mr. 

 Gushing observed them using a curved knife, held in the hand with the blade pro- 

 jecting toward the body (the handle being flattened to fit the face of the thumb by 

 which the attitude of the curved blade is controlled), and drawn toward the body 

 in use; and the resemblance of the implement to that found among the j^rimitive 

 peoples of Japan and the similarity iu use were at once noted. At the same time 

 Mr. Gushing, who was fi'esh from the tidal marshes of Florida in which curved 

 knives of shell are entombed, was enabled to intei'pret more clearly the Floridian 

 shell knives and tooth knives, and infer the manner of their use, which must have 

 been prevailingly centripetal or inward, rather than centrifugal or outward from 

 the body like the tools of civilization. This simple discovery throws strong light 

 on the development of primitive industries and removes difficulties hitherto 

 encountered in the interpretation of primilive implements and workmanship. Then, 

 on examining the shell mounds and house mounds on the Maine coast, Mr. Gushing 

 was enabled to explain the occurrence of certain sj)lit teeth of the beaver found in 

 such associations as to suggest habitual use; for he found, on attaching them to 

 handles similar to those of the curved knives, that they constituted surprisingly 

 effective implements for shaving and carving wood, for opening the skins and sever- 

 ing the tissues of animals, and indeed for ]iprforming all of the multifarious func- 

 tions of the knife. At once it became evident that the beaver-tooth knife was much 

 more efficient, and among hunters more economic in making and carrying, than the 

 knife of chipped stone; and on investigating the history of the curved steel knives 

 made by smiths for the Indians in accordance with their own designs, it became 

 evident tliat the beaver-tooth knife was the prototype of that in use by the tribes- 

 men today. At the same time, the connection between the shell knife of the Florida 

 coast and the beaver-tooth knife of the Maine coast seemed so close as to indicate 

 similarity in origin, the animal substance used in each case being that possessing at 

 once the advantages of accessibility and of economy in manufacture and use. 



Connected in bearing with the foregoing researches are those conducted during 

 the year by Mr. W J McGee. During previous years he visited the Seri Indians of 

 the Gulf of California, and collected various specimens of their handicraft. The 

 collection comprises a series of stone implements, of which a number were observed 

 in use, representing a stage in the development of stone art which has hitherto been 

 obscure. Initially, these implements are natural pebbles picked up from among 

 the quantities of similar pebbles shingling the beach; yet they are used for break- 

 ing the shells of crustaceans; for crushing bones of fish, fowl, and animals; for 

 pounding apart the tough tissues of larger animals, or perchance for crushing and 

 grinding mesquite beans, cactus seeds, and other vegetal substances. Originally 

 selected almost at random, the stone is commonly used but once and then thrown 

 away; but, if the habitation happens to be located near, the fitter stones are used 

 over and over again, perhaps proving so serviceable that when the always temporary 

 residence is changed they are carried away as a part of the domestic property of 

 the matron. Eventually the stone becomes battered and worn by use, so that its 

 shape is changed; then, if rendered less useful by the change, it is thrown away, 

 while, if made more serviceable, it is retained to become a highly esteemed piece of 

 property, always carried by the matron in her wanderings and buried with her body 

 at death. 



The series of implements collected, and the nmch larger series seen in Seriland, 

 but not collected, show no trace of predetermined design m form or finish. The 

 implements are fairly uniform in size, apparently because the users are fairly uniform 

 in strength and the uses fairly uuiform in force required, and they are fairly uniform 

 in shape because of similarity in applications; but as a whole, the series is charac- 

 terized by absence of design, by fortuitous adaptation rather than that complex 



