726 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 517. 



Indian reservations and despoiling historic or pre- 

 historic ruins and taking therefrom any relics or 

 remains of antiquity whatever. To this end your 

 predecessors in office or perhaps you have hereto- 

 fore been advised of the wishes of this office in 

 this respect and requested to take such action 

 as might be necessary to the end that proper pro- 

 tection should be afforded in the premises and all 

 spoliation of these valuable ruins be prevented. 

 -It * * * * * 



It is desired that you take this matter up and 

 issue such orders or instructions and take such 

 action as may be necessary to carry out the 

 wishes of this office as heretofore expressed. 

 Should you have Indian police under your charge, 

 they should be properly cautioned and instructed. 

 Further, reliable and trustworthy chiefs and 

 headmen of the tribe might likewise be advised 

 of the desire of this office to protect these re- 

 mains of antiquity from being despoiled by curio 

 hunters, etc., and directed to aid you so far as 

 possible in the matter. 



Should unauthorized persons be found on the 

 reservation or reservations under your charge and 

 engaged in the work of excavating or collecting 

 relics, etc., they should be removed from the 

 reservation and the facts in the case be reported 

 to this office in full. 



Very respectfully, 



(Signed) A. C. Tonner, 

 W.M.W. — L.M. Acting Commissioner. 



In reply to a letter addressed to Mr. W. H. 

 Holmes, chief of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, inquiring what steps were heing 

 taken hy that bureau with a view to putting 

 the Interior Department in possession of in- 

 formation that would be helpful in carrying 

 out the policy of the department relative to 

 the southwestern ruins, I received the follow- 

 ing communication: 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 



BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



November 19, 1904. 

 My dear Mr. Hewett: 



I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter 

 of the 16th instant, making inquiries regarding 

 the steps now being taken by the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology in furnishing information to the 

 Interior Department relative to the location, char- 

 acter, and condition of the various historic and 

 prehistoric ruins of the Southwest. 



In reply I have to say that much progress has 



been made in the preparation of maps and descrip- 

 tive lists of the various archeological sites of the 

 Pueblo region. The Bureau has been conducting 

 explorations among these sites at frequent inter- 

 vals ever since its foundation, and has published 

 numerous reports and maps embodying the results 

 of its researches. The preparation of a general 

 archeological map has been in hand for several 

 years, and the data amassed is laid down on the 

 Geological Survey maps, upwards of 50 of the 

 topographical sheets covering parts of Utah, 

 Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona having been 

 utilized in this manner. 



Accompanying the maps is a card catalogue of 

 the sites, giving more or less complete data rela- 

 tive to the ruins and other remains. Recently a 

 demand for this class of information has arisen in 

 the Interior Department, and in order to properly 

 meet this demand the work has been taken up 

 afresh and leliable information from all sources 

 is being brought together. The data previously 

 collected is now being transferred to the latest 

 editions of the maps on which we are laying down 

 all Indian Reserves, private land grants, and town- 

 ship and section lines. Distinctive symbols are 

 used for the various classes of remains, thus aid- 

 ing in identification of particular sites; and the 

 catalogue as recently remodeled, embodies a wide 

 range of information, especially such as is likely 

 to be of service to the Interior Department. The 

 work is rapidly covering all the public lands on 

 which archeological remains of importance occur 

 and progress maps will soon be submitted for 

 publication. Copies of these will, if deemed ad- 

 visable, be placed in the hands of land surveyors, 

 Indian agents, custodians of reservations, teachers, 

 and others employed in the region or having 

 knowledge of its ancient ruins, in order that all 

 possible additions may be made. 



It is expected that in a few years the record of 

 our more important antiquities, already completed 

 and published for the Mississippi Valley and the 

 Gulf states, will be extended to cover the entire 

 country. 



I am enclosing herewith samples of the catalogue 

 cards recently introduced. They provide spaces 

 for recording data as follows : State, county, town- 

 ship, range, section, drainage; map (name of 

 sheet ) , number of site, class or kind of remains, 

 common or aboriginal name, where such exist, 

 people, if known; needs of protection, of custodian- 

 ship and repair; availability for research; history 

 and bibliography. 



The information thus gathered will be avail- 

 able for use by the Interior Department at an 



