INTRODUCTION. 



THE North American Indians may be classified in 

 three ways: first, as to language; second, as to 

 customs and habits (culture); third, as to 

 anatomical characters (physical type). It is, however, 

 usual to consider them as composed of small more or less 

 distinct political or social groups, or tribes, and it is 

 under such group names that the objects in museum 

 collections are arranged. The cultures of many tribes 

 are quite similar and since such resemblances are nearly 

 always found among neighbors and not among widely 

 scattered tribes, it is convenient and proper to group 

 them in geographical or culture areas. Most anthro- 

 pologists classify the cultures of North American tribes 

 approximately as shown on the accompanying map. 



In the region of the great plains and prairies were 

 many tribes of Plains Indians, who have held the first 

 place in the literature and art of our time. Being 

 rather war-like and strong in numbers, many of them 

 are intimately associated with the history of our 

 western states and every school boy knows how the 

 Dakota (Sioux) rode down Custer's command. The 

 names of Sitting-bull, Red-cloud, and Chief Joseph are 

 also quite familiar. 



The culture of these Plains tribes is most strikingly 

 associated with the buffalo, or bison, which not so very 

 long ago roamed over their entire area. Turning to 

 the map one may see how closely the distributions of 

 this culture type and that for the buffalo coincide. 

 This animal supplied them with one of their chief foods, 

 in accessible and almost never-failing abundance. For 



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