Cranium. — Among the first desideratum of the Smithsonian Institution is a whole series of American Indian skulls. Where we follow the first mentioned form, cremation, we must naturally look for an opportunity to preserve the remains. In order to reach certain results, it is necessary to make the best decision about the nation or tribe.
In this investigation the character of the articles buried with the body will often furnish a clue. In short, where any doubt exists on the part of the collector, all those circumstances must be examined which, in the absence of direct evidence, would facilitate a conclusion as to origin. Implements of the same description found in deposits of sand and gravel, or other similar material, exposed in crags or steep embankments, such as have recently attracted the attention of European angeologists.
In the case of the shell banks, the largest trees, where any exist, if pi-active, should be cut and the annual rings counted. Next, the thickness of the shell bed must be ascertained, and the height of its base above the present high-water mark; also or that.
ETHNOLOGY
Physical constitution. It is essential to note the general stature of the people, the shape of their bodies in general, and the proportions of their limbs; the shape of the skull and the angle of the face; the characteristics;. Writing Pictures, etc. - A full description is desirable of all the ways in which the natives may make use of recording events or conveying ideas by means of sensitive signs, especially paintings or pictures, however rude, whether concerns pieces of bark or skin on their homes. or tools, on rocks, etc. When the object itself containing the document cannot be secured and carried away, exact drawings of the figures should be made, colored from the originals.
Every circumstance respecting the locality and people among whom it is found should be recorded, together with the interpretations of the natives (in all cases try to have the independent testimony of more than one), when attainable. Give examples of the figures they use}^, especially of any which may be characteristic of the tribe or band. Make them any objects of metal; and if so, of what metals, and what is their manner of working them.
Their achievements also deserve attention in the manner of what might be called the fine arts; such as their drawings and paintings on smooth rocks or the bark of trees, or their vessels, their dwellings, etc.; and their carvings in Avood and stone, such as pipe bowls, oars, snares, &c., &c. If native melodies are to be discovered among them, they must in any case be written down, together with the words sung with them.
10 ETHNOLOGY
ETHNOLOGY. 11 liardly necessary to say that collections of such plants and their seeds
12 ETHXCLOGT
PHILOLOGT. 13
PHILOLOGY
14 PHILOLOGY
PHILOLOGY. 15
16 PHILOLOGY
It is disputed whether the Indian verb has any true indefinite declension, such as "to go eat," »fec., and its simplest form seems to be in all cases the third person singular pix-slano, "he goes."
ORTHOGRAPHY
VOWELS
CONSONANTS
20 PHILOLOGY
COMPARATIVE VOCABULARY
PHILOLOGY. 21
INSTRUCTIONS
ETHNOLOGY AND PHILOLOGY OF AMERICA
APPENDIX A
PHYSICAL CHARACTER OF THE INDIAN RACES
36 PHYSICAL CIIARACTER OF RACES
In the case of mixed breeds it is in any case desirable to determine and indicate whether one or both parents were themselves mixed, and if so, to what extent. Among them it is good to determine the number of regular pulsations and breaths per minute.
PARTICULARS OF INQUIRY
38 PHYSICAL CHARACTER OP RACES
Head
INSTEUCTIOXS
APPENDIX B
NUMERAL SYSTEMS. ^1
42 NUMERAL SYSTEMS
But as exceptions, it is said that among nouns, trees and the larger plants are considered living, while fish take the inanimate determination. The numbering of cocoanuts, bread-fruits, eggs, shells, stones, &c., indeed probably of all common, least valued articles, not included under the first head." Examples are given, which need not be repeated here, as also of peculiarities in numerative particles.
This gentleman also gives a vocabulary of the language of Taputeoua, in the Kingsmill group, one of the most easterly, separated from Tobi by 2,600 miles. Speaking of numbers, he says that the natives furnished the expedition with several sets or classes, which he supposed were used in counting objects of various kinds, though he could get no explanation from them. The reason for this is that the latter contractions are owO-kay, oioo-edzi,.
Howse says that Cree and Chippeway (Ojibwa) nouns are divisible into two classes, animate and inanimate, analogous to the gender of European languages, but many inanimate nouns, from possessing some imaginary perfection, are personified as animate. Perhaps this is to be found in the pantheism, or rather the pan-demonism of Indian mythology. In Chinook, for example, the numeral names are all simple except the one for seven.
These obsolete forms are sometimes revealed in the numeral ten and its compounds and multiples. In Napa, California,-/?,open means two, and ma-ha-ishten, but twenty ishopi-hol, other multiples retain the syllable Jiol to hundred, which is ??ia-. Twenty is in some languages a translation of two tens, in others there is a separate word, and it is in many a name for the head, body, or person, as in Opati, seisdosme (literally one person), which of course means, all the fingers and toes of one person .
But in the Opata and related dialects this form occurs, 20, seis dosme; 30, seis dosme macoi tarewa, i. It is required that the most careful inquiries be made into the facts in each, and that the objects included in the separate classes be enumerated. It is desirable in all cases, if possible, to ascertain the meaning of the larger collective numbers, such as 10, 20, and 100, and another point of inquiry, perhaps the names of the various fingers, especially the thumb, so :.
50 NUMERAL SYSTEMS
