Eighth Annual Report.
by Various.
INTRODUCTION.
The prosecution of research among the North American Indians, as directed by act of Congress, was continued during the fiscal year 1886-87.
The general plan upon which the work has been prosecuted has been explained in former reports and has not been changed. After certain lines of investigation had been decided upon, they were confided to persons trained in their pursuit, with the intention that the results of their labors, when completed or well advanced, should be presented from time to time in the publications of the Bureau provided for by law.
A brief statement of the work upon which each one of the special students was actively engaged during the fiscal year is furnished below, but this statement does not embrace all the studies undertaken or services rendered by them, since particular lines of research have been suspended in this, as in former years, in order to prosecute unto substantial completeness work regarded as of paramount importance. From this cause delays have been occasioned in the completion of several treatises and monographs, already partly in type, which otherwise would have been published.
Invitation is renewed for the a.s.sistance of explorers, writers, and students who are not and may not desire to be officially connected with the Bureau. Their contributions, whether in the shape of suggestions or of extended communications, will be gratefully acknowledged, and will always receive proper credit if published either in the series of reports or in monographs or bulletins, as the liberality of Congress may in future allow.
The items now reported upon are presented in three princ.i.p.al divisions.
The first relates to the publication made; the second, to the work prosecuted in the field; and the third, to the office work, which largely consists of the preparation for publication of the results of field work, with the corrections and additions obtained from the literature relating to the subjects discussed and by correspondence.
PUBLICATION.
The only publication actually issued during the year was the Fourth Animal Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, 1882-83. It is an imperial octavo volume of lxiii + 532 pages, ill.u.s.trated by 83 plates, of which 11 are colored, and 564 figures in the text. The official report of the Director, occupying 39 pages (pp. xxv-lxiii), is accompanied by the following papers:
Pictographs of the North American Indians, a preliminary paper, by Garrick Mallery; pp. 3-256, Pls. I-Lx.x.xIII, Figs. 1-209.
Pottery of the Ancient Pueblos, by William H. Holmes; pp. 257-360, Figs.
210-360.
Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley, by William H. Holmes; pp.
361-436, Figs. 361-463.
Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art, by William H. Holmes; pp. 437-465, Figs. 464-489.
A Study of Pueblo Pottery, as ill.u.s.trative of Zui culture growth, by Frank Hamilton Cushing; pp. 467-521, Figs. 490-564.
FIELD WORK.
The field work of the year is divided into (1) mound explorations and (2) general field studies, embracing those relating to social customs, inst.i.tutions, linguistics, pictography, and other divisions of anthropology.
MOUND EXPLORATIONS.
WORK OF PROF. CYRUS THOMAS.
The work of exploring the mounds of the eastern United States was, as in previous years, under the charge of Prof. Cyrus Thomas.
Although Prof. Thomas and his a.s.sistants have devoted a large portion of the year to the study of the collections made in the division of mound exploration and to the preparation of a report of its operations for the last five years, yet some field work of importance has been done.
Prof. Thomas in person examined the more important ancient works of New York and Ohio. He gave special attention to the latter, with a view of determining where new and more accurate descriptions, surveys, and ill.u.s.trations were necessary. It was found requisite to undertake a careful resurvey and description of a number of the well known works in Ohio. This reexamination was the more necessary in view of the light shed on the origin and use of these monuments by the explorations which had been carried on in West Virginia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee.
Mr. J. P. Rogan continued his work as a.s.sistant until the close of November, when he voluntarily resigned his position to enter upon other engagements. A portion of his time during the first month was occupied in arranging and preparing for shipment the collection purchased of Mrs.
McGlashan, in Savannah, Georgia. The rest of his time was employed in exploring mounds along the upper Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina and along the lower Yazoo River in Mississippi.
Mr. J. W. Emmert continued to act as field a.s.sistant until the end of February, when the field work closed. His labors, with the exception of a short visit to central New York, were confined to eastern Tennessee, chiefly Blount, Monroe, and Loudon counties, where numerous extensive and very interesting groups are found in the section formerly occupied by the Cherokees. Prof. Thomas thought it necessary to devote considerable attention to the ancient works of that region, as it is probable that there and in western North Carolina is to be found the key that will materially a.s.sist in solving the problem of the peculiar works of Ohio. The results of these explorations are of unusual interest, independent of their supposed bearing on the Ohio mounds.
Mr. James D. Middleton, who has been a constant a.s.sistant in the division since its organization, after completing some investigations begun in southern Illinois, visited western Kentucky for the purpose of investigating the works of that section, but was soon afterwards called to Washington to take part in the office work. During the month of June he visited and made a thorough survey of the extensive group of works near Charleston, West Virginia, of which Colonel Norris had made a partial exploration, the latter having been prevented from completing it by the sickness which immediately preceded his death. During the same month Mr. Middleton commenced the survey of the Ohio works before alluded to, obtaining some valuable results in the short time before the close of the year.
Mr. Gerard Fowke was also engaged for a short time in field work in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky, but was called early in autumn to Washington to a.s.sist in office work.
GENERAL FIELD STUDIES.
WORK OF MR. A. S. GATSCHET.
During October and December Mr. Albert S. Gatschet was engaged in gathering historic and linguistic data in Louisiana, Texas, and the portion of Mexico adjoining the Rio Grande, which region contains the remnants of a number of tribes whose language and linguistic affinity are practically unknown. After a long search Mr. Gatschet found a small settlement of Biloxi Indians at Indian Creek, five or six miles west of Lecompte, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, where they gain a livelihood as day laborers. Most of them speak English more than their native tongue; in fact, about two-thirds of the thirty-two survivors speak English only.
The vocabulary obtained by him discloses the interesting fact that the Biloxi belong to the Siouan linguistic family.
He heard of about twenty-five of the Tunika tribe still living in their old homes on the Marksville Prairie, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. An excellent vocabulary was obtained of their language at Lecompte, Louisiana, and a careful comparison of this with other Indian languages shows that the Tunika is related to none, but represents a distinct linguistic family. He was unable to collect any information in regard to the Karankawa tribe, concerning which little is known except that they lived upon the Texan coast near Lavaca Bay.
Leaving Laredo County, Texas, he visited Camargo, in Tamaulipas, Mexico, finding near San Miguel the remnants of the Comecrudo tribe, or, as they are called by the whites, Carrizos. Only the older men and women still remember their language. The full-blood Comecrudos seen were tall and thin, some of them with fairer complexions than the Mexicans.
Subsequently the Cotoname language, formerly spoken in the same district, was studied and found to be a distinctly related dialect of Comecrudo. Both of them belong to the Coahuiltecan family. From the Comecrudo Mr. Gatschet obtained the names of a number of extinct tribes which formerly lived in their vicinity, but of which no representatives are left. These are the Casas Chiquitas, Tejones (or Racc.o.o.ns), Pintos or Pakawas, Miakkan, and Cartujanos. He next visited the Tlaskaltec Indians, who live in the city of Saltillo. Of these Indians about two hundred still speak their own language, which is almost identical with the Aztec, although largely mixed with Spanish.
WORK OF MR. JEREMIAH CURTIN.
Mr. Jeremiah Curtin was engaged from the middle of March to June 1 in completing investigations begun the previous year into the history, myths, and language of the Iroquois Indians at Versailles, Cattaraugus County, New York. The material obtained by him is of great interest and value.
WORK OF DR. W. J. HOFFMAN.
Dr. W. J. Hoffman proceeded early in August to Paint Rock, North Carolina, to secure sketches of pictographs upon the canyon walls of the French Broad River near that place. Owing to disintegration of the sandstone rocks, the painted outlines of animals and other figures are becoming slowly obliterated, though sufficient remained to show their similarity to others in various portions of the region which it is believed was occupied by the Cherokee Indians. Similar outlines were reported to have been formerly visible on the same river, as well as on the Tennessee, near Knoxville, Tennessee, though no traces of them were found.
The next place visited was a few miles distant from and northwest of Liberty, Tazewell County, Virginia, where some painted characters still remain in a good state of preservation. They are on the sandstone cliffs near the summit of the mountains and consist of human figures, birds, and other forms, appearing to resemble artistically those of North Carolina. Five miles eastward, on the same range, is a single diamond-shaped cl.u.s.ter of red and black marks, no other forms being visible. This rock is known in the surrounding country as the Handkerchief Rock, because of its resemblance to an outspread colored handkerchief. He then proceeded to Charleston, West Virginia, obtaining copies of petroglyphs on Big Horse Creek, 12 miles southwest of that place, and at several points along the Kanawha River. It was learned that 20 miles south of Charleston, on the reputed trail leading from the Kanawha Valley into Kentucky, painted trees formerly marked the direction of the trails leading into the Cherokee country, and into Kentucky. These trees bore various marks in red, but no accurate information pertaining to the precise form of the characters could be ascertained. At the other points mentioned characters were noticed resembling in general those found in other portions of the Eastern and Middle States known to have been occupied by tribes of the Algonquian linguistic family.
The Indian G.o.d-Rock, 115 miles north of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the Alleghany River, was next examined and sketches were made of the figures. This rock is an immense bowlder, the sculptured face of which is about 15 feet high and from 8 to 10 feet broad, and lies at the waters edge. The figures upon the lower surface are being gradually obliterated by erosion from floating logs and driftwood during seasons of high water, while those upon the upper portions are being ruined by the visitors who cut names and dates over and upon the sculptured surfaces. Another place visited was on the Susquehanna River, 3 miles below Columbia, Pennsylvania. Here a small stream empties into the river from the east, along whose course several rocks were found bearing deeply cut and polished grooves, indicating a nearly east and west direction. These rocks are believed to be on the line of one of the Indian trails leading to the Delaware River, similar to that at Conowingo, Maryland, which was the last locality inspected, and which is known as Bald Friar. A large ma.s.s of rock projecting from the bed of the river is almost covered with numerous circles, cup-shaped depressions, human forms, and ellipses, strongly resembling characters from other points in the regions formerly occupied by the Algonquian family. Measurements and sketches of these petroglyphs were made, with a view to future reproduction upon models.
OFFICE WORK.
The Director, Maj. J. W. POWELL, has continued the work of the linguistic cla.s.sification of the Indian tribes in North America north of Mexico, and in connection with it is preparing a map upon a linguistic basis showing the original habitat of the tribes. The work is now far advanced.
Prof. CYRUS THOMAS, as previously stated, has devoted much of his time during the year to the study of the collections made, and in preparing for publication the account of field work performed by himself and a.s.sistants. That account will form the first volume of his final report, and will consist almost wholly of descriptions, plans, and figures of the ancient works examined, narrative and speculation being entirely excluded. It will also include a paper by Mr. Gerard Fowke on the stone articles of the collection. The second volume will be devoted to the geographic distribution of the various types of mounds, archeologic maps and charts, and a general discussion of the various forms and types of ancient works. The preliminary lists of the various monuments known, and of the localities where they are found, together with references to the works and periodicals in which they are mentioned, which Mrs. V. L.