79 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



alive to the importance of recording the physical appearance, 

 features, and methods of dress of the Indian in his primitive con- 

 dition, and to this end full use has been made of the camera. The 

 collection of photographs of Indians from all parts of the country, 

 taken either in their homes or upon the occasion of their period- 

 ical visits to Washington, is now very large, and constitutes a body 

 of ethnologic material, the value of which it would be difficult to 

 overestimate. 



Aets and Customs. — Although the rapid settlement of the 

 country, and the introduction of habits and implements of civili- 

 zation, have effected great change in the arts and customs of the 

 Indians, yet among many tribes the old ways of life have been by 

 no means abandoned, and primitive habits and modes of thought 

 still flourish. Investigators sent out by the bureau are required 

 to note the details of the every-day life of the Indians, and to de- 

 scribe such of their primitive arts as still survive as well as those 

 that are borrowed from civilization and modified in accordance 

 with the Indian ideas. Especial attention has been paid to their 

 mechanical operations and appliances, particularly to the making 

 of pottery and textile fabrics, to the ideas and methods of medici- 

 nal practice, etc. Here, again, photography has done good work 

 in retaining, uninfluenced by a writer's subsequent imagination, 

 the exact method of using the different implements and materials. 

 Very large collections of pottery, clothing, and implements of 

 various sorts have been made and are deposited in the National 

 Museum. 



Of the publications of the bureau the annual reports consist 

 of an account of the current year's operations by the director, 

 together with papers upon a variety of topics by the bureau as- 

 sistants and by collaborators. These reports are usually liberally 

 illustrated, and are intended to include subjects of a popular char- 

 acter, or those which from their nature are likely to interest a 

 large class of readers. Up to the present time four volumes of 

 the reports have appeared, and the matter for Vol. V is ready. 



The contributions to North American ethnology are quarto 

 volumes appearing at irregular intervals, and are in the nature 

 of monographs upon special subjects, to which many of the papers 

 in the annual reports are preliminary. They constitute the most 

 important series published by the bureau, and contain the ripened 

 studies of the scholars by whom they were written. Of these, 

 three volumes have appeared, and two are ready for the press. A 

 third class of publications embraces the bulletins which are in- 

 tended to be the vehicle of publication of short articles upon 

 various subjects, the speedy appearance of which is desired. So 

 far five such bulletins have been published. 



During the progress of investigations, which are ultimately to 



