FIFTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT 



OF THE 



BUKEAU OF AMEKICAN ETHKOLOGY 



M. W. Stirling, Chief 



Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report on the field 

 researches, office work, and other operations of the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1938, conducted 

 in accordance with the act of Congress of June 28, 1937. The act 

 referred to contains the following item: 



American ethnology : For continuing ethnological researches among the Amer- 

 ican Indians and the natives of Hawaii, the excavation and preservation of 

 archeologic remains under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, in- 

 cluding necessary employees, the preparation of manuscripts, drawings, and 

 illustrations, the purchase of books and periodicals, and traveling expenses, 

 $58,730. 



SYSTEMATIC RESEARCHES 



During the greater part of the fiscal year, M. W. Stirling, Chief 

 of the Bureau, was in Washington engaged in administrative duties 

 and in preparation of various publications. 



From the latter part of January until the middle of March, 1938, 

 Mr. Stirling was in Mexico examining archeological sites and museimx 

 collections. A site in the Canton of the Tuxtlas south of Vera Cruz 

 was selected for excavation during the winter of 1938-39. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year, Dr. John R. Swanton, ethnol- 

 ogist, was engaged in the preparation of the final report of his re- 

 searches in the interests of the United States De Soto Expedition 

 Commission, of which he is chairman. One field expedition was 

 undertaken in connection with this research. It was directed in 

 the first instance to the southern part of Clarke County, Alabama, at 

 the invitation of James Y. Brame, Jr., of Montgomery, an indefat- 

 igable student of the route of De Soto, who hoped that he had dis- 

 covered the site of the old town of Mabila, where occurred a notable 

 battle between the Spaniards and Indians on October 18, 1540. The 

 site in question, at a place called Lower James Hammock, on the 

 bluff above Choctaw Lake, proved to be an interesting one and 

 specimens of certain novelty types of pottery were obtained, but the 

 question as to its identity with Mabila is still in doubt, the evidence 

 being rather negative. After this work was finished an attempt was 

 made to locate other Indian town sites in the southeastern part of the 

 county, but, aside from a very small one previously identified by Mr. 

 2 



113157—39 



