APPENDIX 2. 



EEPORT ON THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



Sir: In response to your request I have the honor to submit the 

 following report on the researches and other operations of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1919, 

 conducted iji accordance with the act of Congress approved July 1, 

 1918, making provision for sundry civil expenses of the Government, 

 and following a plan submitted by the chief and approved by you as 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The act referred to con- 

 tains the following item : 



American ethnologj' : For continuing ethnological researches among the 

 American Indians and the natives of Hawaii, including the excavation and 

 preservation of archseologic remains, under the direction of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, including necessary employees and the purchase of necessary books 

 and periodicals, .$42,000. 



The ethnological and archeological researches of the staff which 

 are considered in the following report being by law restricted to the 

 American Indians thus from necessity are more or less limited in 

 scope, but notwithstanding this limitation and the intensive work that 

 has been done in the past there is no indication that this field has been 

 sufficiently cultivated or is approaching exhaustion. It is evident 

 that aboriginal manners and customs are rapidly disappearing, but 

 notwithstanding that disappearance much remains unknown, and 

 there has come a more urgent necessity to preserve for posterity by 

 adequate record the many survivals before they disappear forever. 



The remnants of languages once spoken by large populations have 

 dwindled to survivals spoken by one or more centenarians, and when 

 they die these tongues, if not recorded, will be lost forever. Such a 

 fate nearly happened with an Indian tongue in California last year on 

 account of a contagious disease, but fortunately, through the field 

 work of one of our staff, it was rescued before its extinction. 



The continued study of the material culture of the Indians has a 

 practical economic value. Certain food plants, like maize, and fibers, 

 like henequen, have already been adopted from our aborigines, and 

 there are others of vast economic value which await investigation. 

 Ethnological studies of our Indians along these lines are being made 

 by the members of the staff. 



Another instructive line of work the past year relates to the history 

 of the Indians both before and after the advent of the Europeans. 

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