rey Or ee ie. yer a aaatealibt << han Mal aan atlas Bd Stith os | ' | thane = mtn date. ye aes oo yiraciea Core RLS Cc 12%, Le Hibrary of the Museum OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY, AT HARVARD COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. in en On Om in! lan Gp Lenn )} The gift of (7 if. No. J 26a A. Aff f Fe ; j y / ‘i i La HAUL Paratha tari ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, SHOWING THE OPERATIONS, EXPENDITURES, AND CONDITION OF THE INSTITUTION - FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1887. AME ae: ee. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICER. P8389 FIFTIETH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. Concurrent resolution adopted by the House of Representatives July 28, 1888, and by the Senate October 1, 1888. Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That there be printed of the Report of the Smithsonian Institution and of the National Museum for the years ending June 30, 1886 and 1887, in two octavo volumes for each year, 16,000 extra copies of each, of which 3,000 copies shall be for the use of the Senate, 6,000 copies for the use of the House of Representatives, and 7,000 copies for the use of the Smithsonian Institution. II = . | ; REPORT UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, » THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. | ee 7: R TTT: ENDING JUNE 80, 1887, SUBJECTS. Re Report of the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in charge of the National Museum, upon the condition and fe progress of the Museum. IL. Reports of the Curators. : I. Papers illustrative of the Collections in the U.S. National Musenue i . Bibliography. ae eee i v. List of Accessions. UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, UNDER DIRECTION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington, August 1, 1887. Sie: I have the honor to submit herewith a report upon the present - condition of the U.S. National Museum, and upon the work accom- plished i in its various departments during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887. _ -Very respectfully, G. BRowN GOODE, Assistant Secretary, in charge U. S. National Museum. Professor 8. P. LANGLEY, Acting Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. = nee Cea FAY ARM WTO A Pais CONTENTS. Page. eeemantc nC a use el Ne ee ie al os eed Bae asa aa bile rs ANY. USTIRER, GVD)EGI ONO GAY BLO EL) DU ae a ee ee Ee ap Pa eae VII PE UCOUUCONTUNTES Hs cs Oem oe sues oaus Lob acitemckek eacuee one aeeone seb see eta 1X BEES TOUME US NATIONS (aciewcid tans 5 Limbs and other pieces. 2 Tuli ove syaorers a] yee aise Stabe seeded ies 3 These tables give a total of 256 specimens on which work was done during the year, and show that, while the entire number is much less than that of the year previous, the number of large pieces handled is very much greater. The necessary work of preparation has indeed inter- fered seriously with other work, and has increased to such an extent as to render it impossible with the present force to bestow upon it all the attention which could be desired. The reflooring of the pedestals of the casts of Megatherium and Ha- drosaurus has necessitated repairs, and in addtion the series of Dino- ceras casts, numbering some twenty pieces, has been mounted and placed on exhibition. A number of skeletons have been transferred to new pedestals, leaving but little to be done in that direction. The mounting of the skeleton of the Asiatic elephant “ Albert” has been the most difficult and protracted work of the year. The skele- ton forms a very important addition to the exhibition series. The label- ing of the osteological collection, which has been done by Mr. Lucas, is in all respects satisfactory. The transferring of the work-rooms to the Armory building caused a temporary interruption of work during the month of January. Mr. Walter H. Brown, of the University of Kansas, spent six weeks in this department as a volunteer assistant, for the purpose of study- ing the methods of preparing and mounting osteological specimens. MODELERS. A portion of the time of Mr. Joseph Palmer has been devoted to making casts of fishes and reptiles received from time to time by the Museum, and to repairing casts already on exhibition, which have from ‘handling at various expositions and from other reasons become dam- aged. Mr. Palmer has rendered much assistance to Mr. Hornaday in connection with the mounting of mammals. Mr. J. W. Hendley has made casts of Eskimo heads, meteoric stones, various objects for the food collection, stone implements, ete. He also made a model of an Indian woman and several models of Eskimos, for use in the display of costumes. 42 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. PHOTOGRAPHER. Mr. T. W. Smillie, in charge of the photographic work, states that 506 negatives have been added to the permanent files during the year, as follows: Archeological and ethnological. .--. 36) (Mammials) i. Jojo 2225s Se es aa 24 aitholo gical eee eer secon seers ait 8 | For illustrations of lectures.......-. 86 Mineraloorcall a eee ese eek aie “ole Muscellancous)sceec.ceceece ee eee 324 Ornitholosical) eos.) aces ceee ese 13 —— Metallunoicaline cc) eeccua see sleet) 4 Uetal 22t--eeee eee eee 506 In addition, 117 transparencies have been made, 110 being for use in connection with lectures given in the Museum. Seventy-two geological negatives have been stripped and developed. Three thousand seven hundred and six prints (silver) have been made, as follows: Archeological and ethnological... 183 | Mammals ............--..-------- 48 Pnitholoorc alee eae eee eee AQ) |i Miscellancousitee=- eee seater 3, 268 Mineralosicaly assoc eee accesses sl 36 === Onnitholowicalis: so. bob 2 sot cee 23 ToOtalva Aree sucess oeyscees 3, 706 Metaillarorealisseeeereccccesce see 94 In addition, 506 cyanotypes of case drawings and 45 enlargements have been made. One hundred and fifteen miscellaneous photographs have been mounted. In connection with experimental work for the In- stitution upon solar and lunar spectrum, 5 negatives and 10 prints were made. The following persons have been instructed in the methods of pho- tography: Dr. May King (Kiu Yia Me), Mr. C. H. Townsend, Mr. G. P. Merrill, and W. T. Hornaday, of the Museum; Lieutenants Schaefer, Rogers, Bolles, and Werlich, of the U.S. Navy; Mr. Thomas Lee, U. S. Fish Commission, and the photographer of the U.S. Coast Survey. Every tacility has been afforded them for acquiring sufficient knowledge of photography to be of practical use to them in the field. (See p. 32 antea.) : The usual routine work of numbering and filing negatives has been continued. Several photographic outfits for collectors have been pre- pared. By order of the Secretary, a test of seven canceling inks and samples of paper for postal notes was made at the request of the Post-Office Department, and the con‘racts for the ensuing year were based upon the results of the test. The large stereopticon has been transferred to the care of this de- partment, and was very successfully employed during the last season of Saturday lectures. COLORIST. Mr. A. Zeno Shindler has, in addition to his regular work of coloring casts of fishes, reptiles, etc., for exhibition in the Museum, painted a large collection of similar objects for the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and has made a number of sketches in water color, REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 43 among which are views of the Carp pond, a Pima Indian woman engaged in weaving, a Madagascar woman, and a sketch of a Mexican Indian. He also colored photographs of eleven Winnebago, thirty Apache, and twelve Sac and Fox Indians, and also a photograph of an Indian priestess. Twelve life-size casts of Ute Indians were painted, and a pen-and-ink copy made of a painting of Japanese fishery. Six large casts of grind- ing stones were painted in oil, and a cast of an ancient plate painted in gold. He also made a chart of the spectrum, and sketches illustrating the mechanism of the voice for the lecture room. PREPARATOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. Mr. E. H. Hawley has devoted the greater portion of his time to the preparation of material for exhibition. Among the more important collections which he has installed during the year were the “ Grant relics,” and a large number of Japanese and Chinese objects received from Dr. D. B. McCartee, which have all been mounted and placed on exhi- bition. A considerable number of pictures for the section of Steam Transportation and the department of Lithology, as well as a large col- lection of photographs from the British Museum, were mounted in folding screens. In addition he has prepared for exhibition many smaller col- lections and detached objects and prepared manuscript for labels. ACCESSIONS. The total number of accessions to the Museum during the year was 1,646. A table showing the number of accessions to the Museum each year, beginning with 1881, is here given: Year. Cena Accessions. LS ET OSE BEANS SERN a Dan en Dee ee a a .9890-11000 1,111 TIPS FR ay A A I ea RI 11001-12500 1,500 TSIEN AR aie gaan ENE Dat gD ge BA eG Re pe 12501-13900 1, 400 TRSHSIE VS MP De eR a ee 13901-15550 1, 650 1885 (January to J ae Ue aie a cleat thls, 27a at 15551-16208 658 SSO = COE te NHI See Ve Na, A Uo che ones 16209-17704 1, 496 TCI Se/ aes ei I eM OLR CE RE Ease ee 17705-19350 1, 646 Mopalisimcenl Sse woes OER Oe MEM RETR a St 9, 461 The first entry in the accession book bears the date of January 1, 1859, although considerable material had been received before that time. From these figures it will therefore be seen that the accessions of the past six years and a half nearly equal the total number received during the previous 22 years. An “accession” may include hundreds of specimens. 44 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Mr. S. C. Brown, registrar, has completed an alphabetical index of all accessions to the Museum received up to January, 1887. The manu- script is included in fifteen quarto volumes, and contains 1,394 pages of type-written and printed matter. This is invaluable as a resource for reference. Of the 1,646 accessions received during this year, no less than 369 consisted of material sent for examination and report. The quantity of this material is rapidly increasing each year, and a classified list may be found in the chapter on laboratory work. A geographical statement has been prepared, showing the sources of the more important accessions. GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE MORE IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS. AFRICA. Comparatively few accessions were received from this continent, and these embraced but few specimens each, in some cases only a single object. The principal collection was that received in exchange from the Bureau of Arts, Paris. This included mammals, insects, ethnologi- cal material, and a series of casts of heads of various African tribes. The remaining accessions were the following: Fragments of garnet from Cape Colony; meteoric iron and a “‘tiger-eye” from Orange River; an ebony club, 2 bone-pointed arrows, a drum or tom-tom and a leather pouch, sent by Mr. Charles Heape, of Manchester, England, in ex- change; an ibis (Bubulcus ibis) from Egypt. From Lieut. E. H. Taunt, of the U.S. Navy, was received a carved elephant’s tusk, garment made of dyed native cloth embroidered, and a specimen of native cloth from the Baluba country, headwaters of Kassai River. AMERICA. BRITISH AMERICA. From Newfoundland were received collections of marine invertebrates and of bird-skins. Col. Cecil Clay, of the Department of Justice, col- lected and presented moose-skins and skulls from Ontario. Skulls of a small quadruped, Richardson’s Spermophile, obtained in Manitoba, were received from Mr. E. E. T. Seton. Mr. W. B. Anderson, of Fort Simpson, Northwest Territory, sent a collection of shells. Some fossils from the Chazy formation, Terrebonne, Quebec, and a few Canadian coins were also received. CENTRAL AMERICA. A few specimens illustrative of the natural history of Central America were acquired. Among them the following: Aniguana from Big Swan Island, from which locality was also obtained a collection of twenty spec- imens representing five species of land shells, sent by Mr. Charles T. Simpson, and the skull of a Loggerhead turtle ( Thalassochelys caretta); a REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 45 series of the woods of Guatemala, and a collection of the fibers, fabrics, herbs, tallow, crude sulphur, etc., of the country were received from the Guatemalan Government through Enrique Toriello. Mr. Anastasio Al- faro, secretary of the National Museum of Costa Rica, sent three photo- graphs of Costa Rican antiquities and a type of a species of rail, Porzana alfaro. Mr. José C. Zeledon sent from Costa Iica skins of Cotinga ridg- wayi, Zeledon, a new species, and a female of Carpodectes antonice, Zeledon, hitherto undescribed. A peculiar woolen garment worn by Ixtatan Indians of Guatemala, and specimens of the foods used by that tribe, were sent by Prof. Miles Rock. MEXICO. Many contributions from this country were received, the most com- plete being that transmitted by Prof. A. Dugés, of Guanajuato, which embraced bird-skins, shells, fishes, plants, reptiles, insects, mammal skin, and polishing slate. The director of the Mexican Geographical Commission presented a collection of 324 specimens, representing seventy-six species of land, fresh-water, and marine shells. Ww 0 10. als 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOLOGY. cal JAPANESE ARTICLES USED CHIEFLY IN THE FORMER TIMES. (Following mainly Dr. Klemm’s classification, Smithsonian Report, 1873.) FIRE AND FIRE IMPLEMENTS. . Takyi, fire-wood, chiefly used for kindling fire. . Maki, fire-wood. . Katadzumi, hard charcoal. . Kiridzumi, best charcoal. . Dogama, soft charcoal. . Tadon, ball made of charcoal powder and sea-weeds, paste generally used for keeping fire all night. . Tsukegi, match made of sticks tipped with sulphur. . Hinchibako, box for holding the in- struments for striking fire. . Hinchibukuro, bag for holding the in- struments for striking fire, carried in the pocket in traveling, etc. Kuwairo, small metal box for holding fire, carried in the bosom to warm the chest, with a fragment of its burning charcoal inside. Hibachi, vessel partly filled with fine ashes, containing when in use a few bits of burning charcoal. Hebashi, a pair of iron rods, generally placed at the corners of hibachi for holding burning charcoal. Gotoku, iron tripod. This is an iron ring on three feet projecting up- ward; half of it is buried in the ashes, and on the top of the feet the tea-kettle is placed. Hainarashi, levelling ashes. Haifurui, ash seive. Juno, pan for holding burning char- coal. Aumitoro, charcoal holder. Hibukidake, a piece of bamboo used for blowing fire. Tabakoton, a square wooden box con- taining a small earthen vessel for holding hot charcoal, and a segment of bamboo either with or without cover, used by smokers. TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS. Kama, sickle. Nata, hatchet. Daiker Dogu, carpenter’s tools (1 set, 59 articles), TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS—continued. 3. Sakuwan Dogu, plasterer’s tools (1 set, 23 articles). . Kadzariya Dogu, metal worker’s tools (1 set, 31 articles). . Ivory carver’s tools and specimens of horn carving (1 set, 23 articles). . Tools and material used in making common lacquer. Models illustrating process of making lacquered plate. - Tools and material used in making gold lacquer. . Specimens of gold lacquer. ele CLOTHING. Articles of clothing. 30. Harakake, cloth covering tied over the chest and abdomen, used by common laborers. Amelapa, an oiled paper coat with square sleeves, used by common people in time of rain. 32a. Mino, a rain-coat made of Barex, sp., worn generally by Samurai in olden times. 32b. Mino, a rain-coat made of Barex marrowti, worn by farmers. 33. Kakegosa, a rain-coat made of Juncus calticus. 31. Foot covering. . Momobiki, tight trousers, used by common laborers. . Patchi, a kind of silk trousers. . Kiyahan, a pair of leggings, used by common travelers. . Tabi, a pair of socks. . Kokahe, a kind of socks without soles. These are only used when the people wear Waraji (No. 47). . Setta, a pair of leather sandals. . Ashida, wooden clog, used in wet weather; worn by males. _ . Ashida, wooden clogs, used in fair weather; worn by females. . Komageta, wooden clogs, used in fair weather; worn by males. . Komageta, wooden clogs, used in fair weather; worn by females, 12 4A. 45. 46. 47, 48. 49, 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. CLOTHING—continued. Foot covering—Continued. Takekawa Zori, sandals of bamboo sheath. Zori, sandals of straw. Asaura Zori, sandals chiefly for in- door wear. Waraji, pair of straw sandals, used in traveling. HEAD GEAR. Augegasa, a hat made of Bare dit- palatha, used by Common laborers. Amigasa, a hat of rattan, used by fish- ermen, etc. Takinokogasa, a rain-hat made of bamboo sheath, used by common ‘laborer. Takenokogasa, a rain-hat made of bamboo sheath, used by Samurai in old times. Nurigasa, a hat made of bamboo slips and lacquered paper on them. Funazoko, a head covering of cotton cloth, worn in cold by common peo- ple. Okoso, a head covering of crape for women. Kappa Boshi, an oiled paper head coy- ering. ORNAMENTS. Articles of ornament. . Hanyeri, collar for female. . Kinchaku, a pouch for child, sus- pended in the girdle. . Asetenogoi, summer towel for female. . Tenugui, a towel. Head ornaments. . Kanzashi, hair-pin used by young girl. . Hanakushi, comb worn by young girl. . Hangake, crape for hair ornament. . Negake, paper cord for hair ornament. . Kamoji, false hair. . Marumagekata, mold for dressing wo- men’s hair, used as stuffing. . Tabodome, hair-pin. . Bindome, hair-pin. . Hariuchi, a kind of hair ornament, used the same as No. 63. . Nisebekko Kushi, hair ornament comb made of imitation tortoise shell. 70. 71. 72. ORNAMENTS—continued. Head ornaments—Continued. Nisebekko Kogai, hairornament made - of imitation tortoise shell. TOILET ARTICLES. Kushi, combs. Kagami, mirror with case. 73. Kiodai, mirror-stand with drawers, 7A. 75. 76. die 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. for lady’s toilet articles. Kamisoribako, razor-case with a ra- zor. Motoyui, a bundle of paper cord for binding the hair into a bunch. Oshiroi, white powder for powdering the face. Oshiroi Tokashi, vessel for dissolving white powder. Mayuhake, toilet brush. Abura, pomatum for the hair. Koyu, perfumed oil for the hair. Gomanoabura, oil of Sesamum orien- talis. Benichoku, rouge-cup for painting lips by females. Nukabukuro, small cotton bag to put Tice bran in, used in place of soap. Yojure, tooth-pick holder. Yoji, bundle of tooth-picks. Hamigakiko, tooth-powder. Migakiyoji, tooth-brushes. Migakiyoji bako, tooth-brush case. Kanatarai, metal tub used for wash- ing hands, ete. Tuto, hot-water jar. MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES OF ORNAMENT. 91. 92. 93. 94, 95. 96. 97, 98. 99. Ogi, fan. Uchiwa, round fan. Amagasa, rain-umbrella. Higasa, a parasol. Biotengasa, umbrella used for sun or rain; 5 vessels, plates, and other objects for household use. VESSELS, PLATES, ETC. Kama, iron pot for boiling rice. Kamashiki, stand for iron pot (Kama). Meshiage, large wooden handle used for taking rice from iron pot. Samoji, a wooden ladle used for filling cups with boiled rice. 100. Meshibitsu, a tub for holding boiled rice, a x. “ REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOLOGY. VESSELS, PLATES, ETC.—continued. 101. Meshibitsu, tub for holding boiled 102. 103. rice, with ladle. Chatzubo, tea-jar. Chagama, iron tea-pot. 104a. Chabukuro, tea-bag used for tea- straining. 104b. Chakoshi, tea-strainer for tea-pow- der. 104c. Chahoji, tea-roaster. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114, 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129, 130. 131. 132. 133. 134, Chashaku, tea-dipper. Nabe, iron pan for cooking. Tukihira, earthen pan for cooking. Tukihira, earthen pan for cooking. Hotategai, a shell used for cooking food, etc. Shakushi, a wooden ladle used for filling cups with soup, etc. Kaishakushi, shell dipper. Kaneshakushi, a copper ladle with numerous holes. Saji, wooden spoon. Renge, earthen spoon. Dobin, tea-pot ordinary use. Tetsubin, an iron kettle for boiling water. Yuwakashi, kettle for boiling water quickly. Hayanabe, a copper pan. Midzusashi, water-jar. Teoke, wooden pail. ‘Komeoke, a tub used for cleaning rice. ; Hishaku, dipper. Katateoke, a wooden pail with single handle. Midzukoshi, a water-strainer. Suribachi, a bowl for rubbing Miso, (fermented mixture of soy beans, wheat, and salt’. Surikogi, a rubbing-stick made of Zamthoxylon piperitum for the above. Suino, a strainer. Misokoshi, a sieve for filtering Miso. Meyaru, a basket holding foods. Komeagezaru, a basket for drying rice after cleaning in water. Manaita, a chopping-block. Debahocho, a kitchen knife, gener- ally used for cutting fish, ete. Nakiri hocho, a kitchen knife. Sashimihocho, a knife for slicing fish (eaten uncooked), 73 VESSELS, PLATES, ETC.—continued. 135. 136 137. 138. 139. 140. 141, 142. 143. 144. 145. 146. 147. 148. 149. 150. 151. 152. 153. 154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 159. 160. 162. 163. 164. 165. 166. 167. 168. 169. 170. 171. 172. 173. 174, Kogatana, a knife. Kawamuki, peeling radish, ete. Senninmai, chopping radish, ete. Wasabioroshi, horse-radish grater. Jago, a funnel. Katakuchi, a pail with a lip. Nomikuchi, faucet. Katsuobako, box for shaving Kat- suobushi (dried bonite for flavor- ing food). Saibashi, chop-sticks for helping to food. Uokushi, sticks of bamboo on which fishes are strung to dry or roast. Kaneami, a gridiron for roasting food, etc. Shibu uchiwa, a common fan used generally in kitchen. Shakusashi, bamboo rack. Hochosashi, knife-case. Sasara, a small brush made of split bamboo for cleaning utensils. Tawashi, mop for cleaning utensils. Sudare, covering food. Zen,a dining table (common quality). Meshichawan, porcelain bowl for boiled rice. Misoshiruwan, Miso soup bowl. Hira, flat wooden bowl for fish and vegetables. Sara, porcelain plate for fish. Sara, porcelain plate. Kozara, small saucer for dressed or salted vegetables, etc. Osara, large porcelain plate. Hashibako, box of chop-sticks. Waribashi, chop-sticks made into tow by splitting. Kobashi, short chop-sticks. Konomano Hachi, porcelain dish for salted vegetables. Donbuzi Hachi, porcelain bowl. Choku, small cup for salad. Shoyutsugi, Shoyu-pourer. Kayoibon, small tray. Tokuri, large bottle for sake. Kan Dokuri, bottle for sake, with its stand. Kan Dokuri, bottle for warming sake. Saka dzuki, sake cup. Chabon, tea-cup tray. Chago, tea-measurer, VA kan REPORT OF NATIONAL VESSELS, PLATES, ETC.—continued. 175. Kiusu, tea-pot. 213. 176. Chawan, a set of tea-cups. i 177. Chadai, tea-cup stand. 214. 178. Kizara, wood plates. 179. Hegi, plates made of strips of bam- | 215. boo for sweetmeats, etc. 216. 180. Zen, dining table. 181. Meshiwan, lacquered wooden bowl | 217. for boiled rice. 218. 182. Misoshiruwan (see No. 154). 219. 183. Hira (see No. 155). 220. 184. Tsubo, small pot for salad, ete. 185. Koshidaka, plate for salted vegeta- bles. 186. Suimonozen, a table for soup bowl. 187. Suimonowan, a lacquered wooden bowl for soup. 188. Choshi, sake kettle. 189. Sakadzuki, sake cup. 222. 190. Sakadzukidai, sake-cup stand. 191. Kuwashibon, confection tray. 192. Kuwashizara, confection dish gen- erally placed on a tray. 193. Midzutsugi, water-jar. 194. Chaire, tea-caddy. 225. 195. Chami, tea-measurer. 196. Chabon, tea-cup tray. 197. Yusamashi, vessel for cooling water. 198. Kiusu, tea-pot. 199. Chawan, tea-cup. : 200. Chadai, tea-cup stand. | 228. 201. Koboshi, vessel for pouring out waste water. 202. Fukin, cloth used for wiping cup, etc. 203. Hatoki, feather duster. 204. Teboki, short broom, made of Sor- 231. ghum saccharatum. 205. Hataki, paper duster. 232. 206. Hoki, broom of the Trachycarpus 233. 221. excelsa. 234. 207. Chiritori, dust-pan. 235. 208. Zokin, house cloth used for cleaning 236. floor. 237. 209. Kamikudzukago, waste-basket. LAMPS. 239. . Yatate, portable inkstand, generally 210. Andon, night-light with saucer, plate, etc. 241. 211. Aburatsugi, oil-can for filling the | 242. saucer of Andon. 212. Toshin, Juncus communis, for the | 248. wicks of Andon, 244, MUSEUM, 1887. LAMPS—continued. Chiochiu (Umibhar) lantern with bow-shaped bamboo handle. Chiochin (Cdawara) folding lantern with its bag. Bajo, lantern used on horseback. Gifu, ornamental lantern made of Gifu. Shokudai, candle-stick. Teshokn, hand candle-stick. Bonbori, hand lantern. Rosoku, candles. PERSONAL ARTICLES. Tobacco Ire (Koshisage), tobacco- pouch, which is fastened to the belt by means of the Netsuke (kind of button). Tobacco Ire (Koshidzashi), tobacco- pouch with case for pipe. . Tobacco Ire (Kamasu), tobacco- pouch. . Tobacco Ire (Kawaichiu), pocket tobacco-pouch. Tobacco Ire (Tamota-otoshi), pocket tobacco-pouch for female. . Kiserutostie, pipe-cleaners. . Kuwaichiumous, pocket-book for paper money, coins, papers, medi- cines, etc., when walking. Kuwaichiumono, ditto for female. . Shiheuri, paper-money pouch. . Kuwa huire, coin pouch. WRITING MATERIALS. Sudzuribaki, writing-box for ink- stone, water-pot, etc. Sumihasami, India-ink holder. Bunchin, paper-weight. Bunko, box for stationeries. Makigami, note paper. Fujibukuro, letter envelopes. Tanzaku, tinted paper for writing verses. . Ihikishi, paper for writing verses. Fudetate, pen-stand. carried in belt. In, stone stamp. Nikuire, box of coloring stuff for stamping. Kogatana, knife. Hasami, pair of scissors, REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOLOGY. WRITING MATERIALS—continued. 245. Hangi, engraved block for printing, with its printed paper. 246. Sumi, printing ink for 245. 247. Hake, brush for printing preparation. 248. Baren, rubber for printing. A SET OF ‘* POWDERED” TEA SERVICE. 249. 250. 251. Furo, furnace. Kama, iron boiler. Mayegawarake, earthen plate placed in front of Furo to keep off heat. Marukoita, base on which the Furo is placed. Hai, ashes produced by burning Sa- kura charcoal and then coloring them with tea. Such are the only ashes used in the Furo. Midzusashi (water-jar) with lid. Its use is to hold water to fill the boiler. ; Chawan,tea-cup used for a tea party. Chakin, tea-cloth. Chasen, tea-stirrer used for mixing the powdered tea with hot water. Chashaku, tea-spoon. Natsume, thin powdered-tea caddy for holding and presenting the powdered tea. Fukusa, silk napkin. Hishaku, dipper used for dipping up boiling water from the boiler. Futaoki, rest for lid of iron boiler. Koboshi, earthenware slop-basin. Sumitori, charcoal basket. Kiridzumi, shaped charcoal. Yedadzumi, branch charcoal. This kind burns more readily than the above. Kibashi. Kuwan, small rings used when re- moving the boiler. These rings are attached to its handles. Kamashiki, iron boiler rest. It is placed on the matting on which the kettle is put when taken off of furnace. : 270. Kogo, incense case. - 202. 253. 254. 255. 256. 207. 258. 259. 260. 261. 262. 263. 264. 265. 266. 267. - 268. 269. | 273. "302. (5 WRITING MATERIALS—continued. 271. 272. Metsubaboki, eagle’s feather duster. Zatoki, hand broom. Fukin, linen cloth; is used to wipe up water. 274. Kocha, powdered tea. ARTICLES USED BY LOO CHEWUIN. 275. 276. eee 278. 279. 280. Male’s garment for summer use. Male’s garment for winter use. Female’s garment for summer use. Female’s garment for winter use. Under trousers for female. Male’s ceremonial garment for sum- mer use. Male’s ceremonial garment for sum- mer use. Male’s ceremonial girdle. Male’s ceremonial girdle under- trousers. Red hat worn by male under twenty years of age on ceremonial occa- sions. - Model showing hair arrangement of male. - Model showing hair arrangement of female. Tobacco-pipe. Bundle of straw paper. Bundle of paper made of Musobasjoo. Hat. Pocket and towel. Towel hanger. Lantern. 294. Harthenware pan. 295. Earthenware furnace. 296a. Porcelain bow] for boiled rice. 296). Porcelain bow! for Miso soup. 297. Dish. 298. Bottle for warming sake. 299. Cup for Awamori (kind of brandy). 300. Pair of flower vases. 301. Round pans. Pail for carrying water. Tea-cup. Oshiyekusa, pictures illustrating Japanese arts (30 sheets). 281. 282. 283. 284, 287. 288. 289. 290. 291. 292. 293. 303. 304, (Lined garments are almost unknown to the common people of the Loo Choo Islands, owing to the hot climate ; and twothin garments are worn by them in winter when occasion requires. ) REPORT ON THE SECTION OF AMERICAN ABORIGINAL POTTERY IN THE _U. 8. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887, By W. H. HoumeEs, Honorary Curator. The work of the Department of Aboriginal Pottery has been carried forward in the lines indicated in the report of the preceding year. A number of new cases have been constructed and series of representative groups of relics have been transferred to them from the Smithsonian hall. Accessions have been numerous and important, but not equal in value to those of the years immediately preceding. The agencies through which the acquisitions were made are, first, those of the Smithsonian In- stitution and the National Museum, including donations, purchases, and the products of original researches; and second, those of the Bureau of Hthnology through corresponding channels. A series of pueblo pottery, ancient and modern, collected in 1886 by Mr. James Stevenson, of the Geological Survey, was turned over to this department during the year. Amongst the 160 numbers are some extremely fine specimens of the white and the polychrome wares of ancient Tusayan. A small series of vessels of the ancient white ware were secured by purchase from Mr. C. M. Landar, of Lawrence, Kansas. Capt. J. G. Bourke, of the U.S. Army, presented a series of small plain and coiled vases obtained by him from cliff dwellings and caves in Arizona. A few small collections were made in the Mississippi Valley and in the eastern States by Dr. Cyrus Thomas and his assistants. From Mexico’some interesting accessions have been made. Dr. Ed- ward Palmer obtained from the State of Chihuahua a number of vases and fragments of ancient earthenware, besides a series of modern works and a most instructive set of pottery-making utensils. This collection was purchased for the Museum by the Bureau of Ethnology. A small number of interesting pieces of ancient ware, collected in the valley of Mexico, were acquired by purchase from Mr. Ward Batchelor. By exchange with museums in France, through the agency of Mr. John Durand, we have acquired a number of interesting pieces of Mex- ican and Peruvian work. A valuable collection of vases and other earthenware relics from the graves of ancient Peru, was purchased by the Bureau of Ethnology from Mr. W. E. Curtis, and is now exhibited in the pottery court. 77 18 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Besides the above-mentioned accessions I may mention small series of earthen relics obtained through William J. Baker, C. J. Hering, A. A. Peling, J. K. Watson, J. N. McComb, jr., W. E. Safford, and E. M. Kirkby. . This enumeration includes only those acquisitions that were turned over directly to the curator of the department. Other accessions of ob- jects of clay are included in series or sets intrusted to other depart- ments. ; The first catalogue number for the year is number 131934, and the last 132955. The total number of entries is 611. The curator has been occupied during the year in completing his © studies of the collections from Chiriqui and in taking initiatory steps looking toward the discussion of the ceramic art of Mexico. A special paper upon a remarkable group of spurious antiquities from Mexico has been prepared and delivered to the Smithsonian In- stitution for publication. It is shown in this paper that for more than half a century the manufacture of pottery and certain other classes of objects has been extensively carried on and for no other pur- pose than to profit by sales to collectors of antiquities. It is alsoshown that museums in all parts of the world are well supplied with these spurious articles, and that a number of pieces have found their way into literature as genuine antiquities. Some twenty illustrations are given. They are taken from the most striking pieces in the National Museums of Mexico and of the United States, and from published illustrations. The papers published during the year are referred to in Section Iv of this report. REPORT ON THE SECTION OF TRANSPORTATION IN THE U. 8, NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887, By J. ELFRETH WaTKINS, Honorary Curator. ° During the year, work in the section of Steam Transportation has been conducted during such brief periods and irregular intervals that it has not been possible to make any systematic attempt to increase the col- lection or to install objects already obtained. By correspondence I have been able to ascertain the whereabouts of considerable material which will naturally be deposited in the National Museum when the section shall be fully organized. I have also succeeded in collecting amass of information which I hope to make use of in preparing a series of models to illustrate the beginnings and the development of the English and American systems of track. : While illustrated histories of the steam-boat and locomotive are nu- ‘merous, I am not aware that any systematic attempt has been made to preserve the history of the development of the systems of permanent way, which, after many years of experiment, are now being reduced to a Series of standards depending on the traffic. My connection with the Amboy division of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company, of which the famous old Camden and Amboy Railroad is a part, has made it possible for me to make a most interesting col- lection of rail sections, which I shall deposit in the Museum as soon as space for the purpose can be assigned. A section of the first rail rolled with a base, which has ever since been known as the American rail, has been installed in the collection. This rail was designed by Robert L. Stevens, president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company, and was manufactured in Wales under his supervision in 183031. A fac-simile of his letter (and draft of the cross-section first proposed)* to the English iron-masters soliciting pro- *This fac-simile having been reduced, the section is not full size. The original rail was 3$ inches high; base 3 inches wide, 79 80 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. posals for manufacturing it, is reproduced in Plate I. It is a most in- teresting relic. | At the time that this rail was ordered, the section (Fig. 1) was in use on the best railroads in England, and modifications of it with the ‘¢ fish-bellied” stem had been imported and laid on several American roads. Fig. 1.—Birkenshaw’s patent Malleable Rail, 1820. (Full size). Fig. 2 shows the shape of the wooden rail capped with strap-iron, which was in general use almost everywhere in the United States as late at least as 1839. aS eS ee Se aes S Fic, 2.—Strap-rail, § inches thick; laid on wooden stringers. In use on American Railroads, 1830-40. I shall be glad if those interested in the matter and who have access to old rail piles will collect short sections, say 2 or 3 inches long, of the rails used on the roads in various States during early times and pre- serye them for future reference, Report of National Museum, 1887.—Watkins. ry "Kel tige sooth focpechoms al crery ee feed z ie SEAS LBs Se At 4 broke - ————— Lrefole HE x PE M530. Lentlemen el ash WHA ~ Centeact fs Aelevrer- af, LEIS SD Fs, orn, A pathy Iron motte te Ma LET Aaclves ov Suchen jet Longs y te Lape at aKa fhe 1 the onethele at rock tnd / tend Phe sekcons on SEL. af Mire = Crrh one es Alot peep Coe tnahe the fers -Aeliveyy, and. CA rate foment, _ Faz. prheler 1sf é “che. _ haul Whe bert ted Aiea He, Yowrte gave Aetiefaofaam 2 t00ere ley us Lhe he follow as Lhet_ tt Live Atocuf, one Leoth.. frat Be Ogden, Corr of He Maite Dlaky of & es ag, Z ee 4 ome of He bt JD Dect acl 3 ¥ bracaspn tition lon flany FAC-SIMILE OF LETTER SOLICITING PROPOSALS FOR ROLLING FIRST AMERICAN RAILS. PLATE I. REPORT ON THE SECTION OF TRANSPORTATION. 81 Tam much gratified to find that the interest shown by many rail- roads officials and others when the work was first inaugurated still continues, notwithstanding the fact that it has been found necessary to delay the organization of the section upon a basis commensurate with its importance. . It is to be hoped that the affairs of the Museum will be in such a condition as to permit the inauguration of active work early during the coming fiscal year. H. Mis. 600, pt. 26 REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHOLOGY IN THE U, §. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887, By CHARLES Rau, Curator. REVIEW OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS. The following are the most important additions to the collection dur- ing the year: Edward L. Hyde, of Middleborough, Massachusetts, sent six casts of depressions produced by grinding stone implements, taken from the rock on which they occur, at Middletown, Rhode Island. W. W. Adams, of Mapleton, New York, sent a flint fat hook from Cayuga County, and a copper dart-head found near the Soa end of Owasco Lake, in the same county. From the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts (through Prof. F. W. Putnam), were obtained six argillite implements taken from the quaternary gravels at Trenton, New Jersey, by Dr. Charles C. Abbott, and two photographs, one show- ing the Abbott coilection in the Peabody Museum, and the other a number of bone fish-hooks belonging to different collections in the same museum. Dr. Charles C. Abbott, of Trenton, New Jersey, presented two argillite implements taken by the donor from the Trenton gravels, about 6 feet below the surface. A. R. Roessler, of Liberty Hill, Texas, sent a cutting tool remarkable for unusual notching, from Fall Creek, San Saba County, Texas. C. T. Wiltheiss, of Piqua, Oho, gave a good cast of a stone pipe inthe form of an animal’s head. The original was found in Piqua. T. L. Whitehead, of Dexter City, Missouri, sent a collection from a mound in Stod- dard County: A quartzite celt, with expanding cutting-edge, chipped and afterwards polished, a large flint digging-tool, a large carved stone pipe (calumet pipe), eight clay vessels, and two fragments of pottery (birds’ heads). A very good collection. H. W. Turner, of the U.S. Geological Survey, gave a stone mortar from auriferous gravel on the north side of American River, near Felsom, Sacramento County, Cali- fornia. This mortar is of elegant form, and differs from any in the collection. W. Cuppage, of Winfield, Kansas, gave a copper celt-gouge, found at Sunnidale, near Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada. From W. W. Blake, of Kansas City, Missouri, was obtained the Fischer collection of Mexican antiquities, consisting of obsidian flakes and cores, arrow and spear heads of obsidian, flint, and chalcedony, a large cutlass-shaped weapon or implement of ob- -sidian, polished celts and chisels, polishing-tools, pendants of chalcedony, obsidian, _and other materials, some in the shape of human and animal figures and heads, lab- rets of obsidian, a large number of stone heads (partly of jade), mirrors of iron py- 83. 84 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. rites, a small skull carved in rock-crystal, stone carvings in human and animal forms (a number consisting of jade), face-marks (human) of serpentine, steatite, white marble, and obsidian, a carved box with lid (of voleanic stone), an ornamented stone cylinder 16 inches in diameter, probably part of a column, copper or bronze objects embracing celts, chisels, awls, needles, bells, T-shaped objects, and a small humana head. Further, clay spindle-whorls, vess 1s of various forms (plain and ornamented), a pipe, musical instruments, figures (human), and a number of stamps. This col- lection contains many rare and even unique specimens. J. C. Zeledon, of San José, Costa Rica, gave a very large and fine metate from Costa Rica. W. E. Safford, ensign, U. 8. Navy, obtained and presented a collection from ancient graves near the beach at Arica, Peru. Hight flint dart-heads (four inserted in wooden stems and representing the detachable part of harpoons), a grooved stone sinker, two implements, a ladle, a small box with partitions, and five pin-shaped objects, all of wood; a copper knife with wooden handle, four copper fish-hooks, one with line at- tached, a bone fish-hook with line and stone sinker, a fishing line, three spines of cac- tus (?), one with a head of plaited rushes, a spindle with whorl and cord attached, two wooden combs (?), two toy mattresses made of twigs, a Pandean pipe of small reeds, pulverized mineral substances taken from the blanket of a female mummy, and three fragments of pottery. S. H. Drew,-of Wanganui, New Zealand, sent seventy-five flakes of obsidian and chert from a Maori kitchen-midden, a fish-hook made of shell and bone, fragments of Moa bones, and a plaster cast of a nephrite idol. James F. Johnson, of Holywood, Ireland, sent a collection of prehistoric antiquities from county Down: Rude stone celts or axes, pounding or crushing stones, rude im- plements more or less leaf-shaped, fragments of animal bones (split), ox-teeth and teeth of deer or elk from caves at Ballymenoch and Craigavad; hammer-stones, pol- ishing-stones, and rude axes and celts from an ancient manufactory at Ballymenoch; crushing-stones, a hammer stone, rude celts, arrow and spear-heais, scrapers, knives, harpoon-heads (?), sinkers, and sling-stones, all of flint, from second raised beach at Holywood. Thomas Wilson, of Washington, recently United States consul at Nice, has de- posited a large and valuable collection of prehistoric and, to sqme extent, historic antiquities, gathered by himself in Italy, Switzerland, France, England, and the Scandinavian countries, which was received and catalogued during the latter part of this year. The contribution embraces drift and cave relics (paleolithic age), objects belonging to the neolithic age and to the bronze period, and specimens of Etruscan and Roman origin. The whole collection, the value of which can hardly be over- estimated, contains 10,297 articles, and the entries nearly fill a volume of the cata- logue. It would be impossible to give in the limited space of this report a statement in detail of the collection, but at the same time something more than the brief abstract above given is due both to the donor and to the collection. Where every specimen is of importance it is hard to discriminate, but worthy of special mention are the objects from the well-known caves of Southern France, the articles from the Dolmens in Brittany, and a fine series of implements of stone, bone, and horn, including anum- ber of clay vessels (entire), from the Swiss lakes. Scandinavia is represented by a large number of chipped implements, and a series of perforated axes in different stages of manufacture, from the rude beginning to the finished specimen. Last, but not least, is the bronze collection, which numbers over seven hundred objects, In this we have an exhibit which can not be duplicated, except, perhaps, by some of the larger European museums. It contains specimens from Scandinavia, from the Swiss lakes, and a large number of Etruscan origin. Considering the fact that there were less than fifty articles of bronze in the collection previous to this accession, its im- portance will at once be seen, REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAOLOGY. 85 The entering of specimens and their distribution, either for exhibition orfor exchange, has been carried on in accordance with the plan indicated in the last annual report. This being the case, any further statement would be only a repetition. Duplicates have been sent in exchange as follows: To O. P. Rogers, Marengo, McHenry County, Illinois.—A grooved stone hammer. - To Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, Frith Hill, Godalming, England.—Collection of arrow- heads (114 specimens). To Dr. Oskar Schneider, Dresden, Saxony.—Six small bottles of shell beads (Calli- fornia). To Edward Lovett, West Burton House, Outram Road, Croydon, England.—Col- lection of archzological specimens (52). The curator of this department has been engaged during the year in the composition of a work on North American antiquities, entitled ‘«¢The Typical Forms of North American Prehistoric Relics of Stone and Copper in the U.S. National Museum.” The present state of the collection is shown by the following tabular statement: Number of specimens entered in this department. Bion nOnward trom last year... 2p occ4 cies ce snjensces so ccce oe ee vecede 48, 763 Accessions during the year ending June 30, 1887: saiiOMSOLIOSH sscietec aes ciseecec ce toe Socece ck eseecosee rote s 12, 869 MME AUCISCLICS cai. oaeiisct oe sls Soca pelseeic boc secseeews Sle Seececs's 764 - 13, 633 ANC sie Setar Meas ore cra alrite Sa Sah swe ct Cae Oui Ee PES oe Ope ~ 62, 396 Received from the Bureau of Ethnology: = Amount brought forward from report, January-June, 1885 ..-.-..--.--- 16, 551 Honthenyear ending, June 30; 1886)... ... ..2--- 2.6 sac- ooo sccsee 2, 879 For the year ending June 30, 1887 .. 25. soe. ee ee cee ene eee 19, 833 22, 712 TUOUR Ses aE ESS SBIn are 10 nC oD SOS UN Cs = pn VP eee OR A SE a 39, 263 Grancato tale enacts akan ne ance ane, Sa eee SR Ne eae aren SS ote 101, 659 a ts 4 REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS IN THE U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887, By FREDERICK W. TRUE, Curator. The most important work of the year has been the commencement of a re-arrangement of the exhibition hall. Of the movable cases which were in the hall at the close of the last year but one remains, and the wall cases have been remodeled and added to. The new floor cases depart from the standard originally adopted for other departments of the Museum. Their size and proportions were de- termined upon after a careful study of the material to be exhibited, and the collection is, therefore, seen to a much greater advantage than for- merly. The new wings added to the wall cases are designed for the re- ception of the longest specimens in the collection (the ruminants, seals, etc.), which have not hitherto been under cover, and have been subject to injury at the hands of visitors. » > As a result of the expedition into Montana, under the charge of Mr. W. T. Hornaday, sent out by the Institution, the Museum has come into the possession of a very fine series of specimens of the Bison—a matter of great importance in view of the approaching extinction of that species. The reference series has been enriched by purchases and donations of well-preserved skins of certain North American species of Mammals in which the collection was previously deticient. In a region like North America, where, in many cases, the range of a species extends over thousands of square miles, and the species itself is differentiated into numerous geographical races, a large series of specimens will alone suffice to enable the student of zoogeography, or the systematist, to work out the problems with which he has to deal; and since the characters, which are chiefly relied upon for distinguish- ing subspecies, are external, it is necessary that the skins should be prepared in the very best manner. It is in this direction that the growth of the reference series of the National collection ought to tend. The work of the past year is but a beginning. 87 sal 88. REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Six species and one subspecies have been added to the North Ameri- can fauna during the year. These are— Hesperomys taylori Thomas. (Texas.) Hesperomys anthonyi Merriam. (New Mexico.) Neotoma bryanti Merriam. (Lower California.) Dipodomys deserti Stephens. (California. ) Vespertilio longicrus True. (Puget Sound.) Vespertilio ciliolabrum Merriam. (Western States. ) Thomomys talpoides perpallidus Merriam. (California. ) Of H. taylori the Museum possesses one specimen, a very defective skin, in alcohol, which was found soon after the species had been de- scribed by Mr. Thomas. H. anthonyi is represented by two specimens (apparently a subspecies) purchased from Mr. Stephens, who also pre- sented the type of his Dipodomys deserti. Several specimens of Thomomys perpallidus were purchased from Mr. Stephens. Neotoma bryanti is not in the collection. Vespertilio cilio- labrum is represented by several specimens, but of V. longicrus only the type (No. 15623) is known. NOTES ON IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS. The accessions of the past year compare favorably in point of inter- est with those of former periods. The sources from which they have been derived have been unusually varied. - The amount of material received from the different Bureaus of the Government has not been so great as in some previous-years, while the number of private contributions has increased. For the first time in the history of the department a considerable number of specimens has been purchased. ‘ TERRESTRIAL MAMMALS. North America.—One of the most important accessions of the year was the series of skins and skeletons of the American Bison, obtained in Custer County, Montana, by the expedition sent out by the Smith- sonian Institution (Mr. W. T. Hornaday in charge). A portion of this series, comprising individuals of both sexes and of different ages, has been mounted by Mr. Hornaday and his assistants and will soon be placed on exhibition. Good specimens of the Prong-horn Antelope, Coy- ote, etc., were also obtained by this expedition. The party sent out to reconnoiter in this region in the summer of 1886 found the Bison in poor condition and made no attempt to secure a series. They brought back a living Bison calf, which, however, survived but a few weeks. Two collections of Mammals from southern California, purchased from Mr. F. Stephens, of San Bernardino, California, contain excellent specimens of numerous species occurring in that region, in which the Museum collections were previously deficient. Among these may be mentioned the Round-tailed Spermophile, Spermophilus tereticaudus ; Anthony’s Field Mouse, Hesperomys anthonyi; and the Desert Pocket- rat, Dipodomys deserti, of which the describer (Mr. Stephens) had pre- viously presented the type to the Museum. REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS. 89 ‘The Mammals collected by Mr. Charles H. Townsend in northern California, and described in the Proceedings of the Museum (Vol. x, pp. 159-241), were added to the study series during the year. Dr. J. C. Merrill, U. S. Army, stationed at Fort Klamath, Oregon, has presented a considerable number of interesting specimens taken in the vicinity of the fort, including a series of Sorex vagrans. _ Among the specimens of North American Ungulates received during the year was a very fine pair of antlers of the Wapiti, presented by the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar. Col. Cecil Clay and Mr. R. A. Klock presented the skins of a female Moose and calf captured in Maine, together with _ photographs of the, head of a Moose. An albino Virginia Deer from Clover Creek, Virginia, was purchased in the Washington market. Prof. George F. Atkinson, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, prepared and presented a series of the southern variety of the common Chipmunk, Tamias striatus. A similar series of Richardson’s Spermophile, S. rich- ardsoni, was presented by Mr. E. E. Thompson, of Manitoba. The Museum is indebted to Mr. Daniel C. Beard for the storehouse and nest of a Field Mouse, H. leucopus. Good specimens of the rather rare Mountain Beaver, Haplodon rufus, and of the Dusky-footed Wood Rat, NV. fuscipes, were purchased from Mr. A. Todd, of Elk Head, Oregon. Central and South America (including West Indies).—By far the most interesting accession from the West Indies was a living specimen of - the Almiqui, Solenodon cubanas, which was probably the first example of the species ever brought alive to the United States. It was obtained, together with two others, a female and a young individual, through Mr. John Gundlach, and was captured in the Sierra Maestra Mount- ains, Cuba. Mr. C. B. Cory presented about’ 56 specimens of the rare Bat known as Natalus micropus. These were obtained in Old Provi- dence Island, Yucatan. Only the type-specimen was previously known. The authorities of the British Museum presented a specimen of the South American variety of the Horny Bat, Atalapha cinerea grayi, a variety not previously in the Museum collections. A specimen of the rare Ouakari ‘Monkey, Brachyurus rubicundus, and three specimens of a South Ameri- can Deer, believed to be C. gymnotis, were presented by the Zoological Society of Philadelphia. Mr. Anastasio Alfaro presented a series of skins of Sciurus hypopyrrhus and S. rufoniger prepared by himself. Old World.—A number of mounted specimens of Kuropean Mammals were received from Mr. E. Hargitt, among which may be mentioned a specimen of the Wild Cat, Felis catus, and the European Badger, Meles taxus. Inexchange for North American mammals, Dr. Tycho Tullberg, on the part of the Upsala Museum, sent a small collection of Swedish species. By a similar exchange the Museum received from the Museum d Histoire Naturelle, Paris, a number of skeletons of Old World spe- cies, including the Gorilla, Bactrian Camel, Civet Cat, Entellus Monkey, etc. Among a number of Tasmanian mammals presented by the Fish Acclimatization Society of Ballarat, are a very fine native Wolf, Thyla- _ Cinus cynocephalus, and two specimens of the so-called Tasmanian Devil, 90 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Dasyurus ursinus. Specimens of the two species mentioned were also received from the authorities of the Australian Museum and have been mounted. As in former years, the Philadelphia Zoological Society (through Mr. A.E. Brown) has presented to the Museum a number of valuable mam- mals which died in the gardens. The following species deserve special mention: Capra ibex 6, Hystrix cristata, Herpestes widdingtoni, Cercopi- thecus diana, and C. sabeus. Mr. W. A. Conklin, superintendent of the Central Park Menagerie in New York, presented a tiger cub; and Messrs. Barton and Logan, of Washington, a specimen of Ateles arachnoides. AQUATIC MAMMALS. Seals.—The most interesting representative of this order received dur- ing the year is a skeleton of an adult male West India Monk Seal, Mon- achus tropicalis, purchased from Mr. H. A. Ward, who obtained it in Los Triangulos Islands, off Yucatan. Capt. M. A. Healy, of the U.S. Rev- enue Marine, presented three skins of the Ribbon-seal, P. fasciata, ob- tained off the Alaska coast. During the winter of 1886~87 a number of Harbor-seals were taken in the fish-nets off Wood’s Holl, Massachu- setts, and were forwarded to the Museum by the agent of the U.S. Fish Commission at that point. Cetaceans.—A second skull of the interesting Porpoise described by the curator some time since, under the name of Phocena dalli, was presented by Lieut. Commander H. E. Nichols, U. 8. Navy, who obtained it, together with a skeleton of P. communis, on the coast of southern Alaska. The species is unquestionably valid. From the U.S. life-sav- ing station at Dam Neck Mills, Virginia (Mr. Bayley 'T’. Barco, keeper), were obtained skeletons of the common Dolphin, D. delphis, the Pygmy Sperm Whale, Kogia breviceps, and the short-finned Black-fish, Globi- cephalus brachypterus. Specimens of the latter species, which is quite distinct from the Blackfish of our northern coast, were also obtained from Osprey, Florida, through the efforts of Mr. Joseph Willcox. DOMESTIC ANIMALS. The series illustrative of the breeds of the domestic Dog has received several important accessions during the year. Among the races repre- sented are a Blenheim Spaniel, an Irish Setter (Glenclaire), two Grey- hounds, and a Bloodhound. A skull of a Pointer dog fourteen years old and the skull of a Newfoundland dog were also received. Important changes in the arrangement of the exhibition hall have taken place during the year. The large special case for the group ot Fur Seals, mentioned in the last report, was finished and the group was placed therein. ‘ The new floor cases referred to in last year’s report were received in February and the old cases were released and removed from the hall. The new cases are furnished with large glasses and are to be fitted with REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS. 91 terraced bases instead of shelves. No diaphragms are employed. The specimens will be seen to a much better advantage in these cases than they could be while the old cases were in use, and the general appear- ance of the hall is likewise greatly improved by their introduction. - None of the fittings have yet been completed, but it is expected.that they will be finished early in the coming year. The instailation of the cetacean casts over the wall cases, which was contemplated last year, has been carried into effect. Finding that the glasses in the tops of the wall cases were constantly in danger of being broken, they were removed and wooden panels were substituted. At _the same time the entire interior of the cases was painted afresh, and a partial re-arrangement of the specimens was effected. After much deliberation it was deemed best to place the Seals and large Ungulates under glass to protect them from ruthless hands. A large wing has been added on the south end of each of the wall cases These wings (which practically form cases by themselves) are the high- est and deepest cases which have thus far been erected. They are over 12 feet in height and are 7 feet deep in the deepest part. The Moose, Wapiti, Sea Lion, and other large mammals in the collection, will be ar- ranged in them, the Ungulates occupying one wing while the other is given up to the Seals and Sea Lioii. They will be furnished and in use early in the coming year. There are at present in the hall thirty floor cases, including the two large cases containing the groups of Orangs and Fur Seals; and the two large wall cases referred to above. The principal addition during the ensuing year will be a large case for the group of Bison now in the hands of the taxidermists. The mounted specimens added to the exhibition series during the year were chiefly Marsupials. The collection of representatives of that group is now large and very interesting. Of the placental Mammals added to the series may be mentioned as especially worthy of notice, the Tiger, Leopard, Cheetah, and Californian Sea Elephant. The species represented by the specimens added to the exhibition series during the year were as follows: Black Macaque, Cynocephalus niger. Leopard, Felis leopardus. Tiger, Felis tigris. European Wild Cat, Felis catus. Cheetah, Cynelurus jubatus. Coyote, Canis latrans. Ursine Dasyure, Dasyurus ursinus. Great Rock Kangaroo, Macropus robustus. Parry’s Kangaroo, Macropus parryi. Bennett’s Wallaby, Halmaturus bennetti. Red-legged Wallaby, Halmaturus wilcowi. Red-bellied Wallaby, Halmaturus billiar- Red Fox, Vulpes fulvus. dit. European Ermine, Putorius erminea. Red-necked Wallaby, Halmaturus rufi- European Badger, Meles taxus. collis, é Californian Sea Elephant, Macrorhinus an- gustirostris. Pademelon Wallaby, Halmaturus thetidis. Crescent-marked Wallaby, Onychogalea lu- Hedgehog, Hrinaceus ewropeus. Black R Mus rattus. Rabbit, Lepus cuniculus. Tasmanian Wolf, Thylacinus cynocephalus. natus. Rufous Rat-Kangaroo, Betiongia rufescens. Vulpine Phalanger, Phalangista vulpina. Wombat, Phascolomys ursinus. 92 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. The work of preparing specimens was considerably retarded by the absence of the chief taxidermist, who, as already stated, spent about three months in collecting specimens of Bisonin Montana. Asan offset, however, the exhibition hall will soon be graced by a very fine group of Bison. ‘ Nearly all the larger mounted specimens were cleaned and repaired while the wall cases were being painted, and they are, therefore, in ex- cellent condition. It is confidently hoped that when the new cases are completed the hall will present a much more attractive appearance than ever before. The laboratory and office of the department were moved to a section of the Museum building in which the accumulation of dust, complained of in the last report, is less troublesome. The office now adjoins the exhibition hall, a matter of great convenience. The laboratory had previously been fitted with racks, and the drawers containing the ‘“‘study” series of skins were, therefore, simply trans- ferred from the old racks to the new ones. The alcoholic series was temporarily placed in the south gate-way, where they have remained during the year. The erection of shelves in this space for the accommo- dation of the alcoholic series is contemplated, since it is very desirable that this series should be separated from the collection of skins. The card catalogue has not yet been copied, but the first draft has been brought up to date. All specimens received during the year have been entered in the registers upon receipt and assigned to their proper places. The rather large labels attached to the Rodents and other small species have been replaced by a smaller form, which renders the specimens less liable to injury when handled. The metal tags have also been discarded in the case of the smallest species, since they tend to endanger the in- tegrity of the specimens by their weight. The curator has had the assistance of a clerk and a copyist during the greater part of the year. He has been relieved of the care of the library. The curator has spent the greater part of the time available for study during the year in completing the review of the species of the family Delphinide. The papers of Mr. McKay’s Alaskan collection, on the Canada Lynx, on a new Mole from Japan, and.on the genus Dipodomys, referred to in the report of last year, have been published. Mr. Nelson’s report on his Alaskan collection was ordered printed by act of Congress, and the proof of the portion of the same referring to the Mammals has passed through the curator’s hands. The small col- lection of Mammals forwarded to Washington by the Geographical and Exploring Commission of Mexico was identified by request of Mr, Ferrari-Perez, chief of the natural history section. The curator described, under the name Vespertilio longicrus, a new Bat received from Puget Sound. He also published a few notes on the 2 BS a a REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS. 93 living specimens of the Almiqui, Solenodon cubanus, which was obtained from Mr. J. Gundiach, and on a remarkable malformation of the hoofs of an ass received from Texas. A considerable number of inquiries regarding North American Mam- mals have been responded to. A number of Texan species were identi- fied for Mr. G. H. Ragsdale, of Gainesville, in that State, who also -received information regarding methods of preparation. Dr. D. D. Slade, of Cambridge, applied for information regarding the metacarpals of the Auroch and Bison. A controversy between this observer and Mr. F. A. Lucas on the value of the character drawn from the differ- ences in the metacarpals of the two species will be found in ** Science.” At the request of the Director, the curator spent some time in inves- tigating the question of the color variation of the Puma, Felis concolor. Dr. Harrison Allen examined the entire collection of deers’ antlers in connection with the question of bilateral asymmetry in the class Mam- malia. The collections are in nearly the same condition as at the close of last year; it is, on the whole, quite satisfactory. The entire series is under control, though a final division of material remains to be made, and ap- pliances for keeping out dust are still needed. Very few of the speci- mens, either in the exhibition or study series of skins, are without - written or printed labels. The alcoholic series is arranged by species in preserve jars, and’ the specimens themselves, in most cases, have only simple metallic labels bearing the catalogue numbers. - The number of specimens in the different series at the present date and at the close of the last fiscal year is shown in the following table: Number of specimens in the exhibition series of skins --......- Number of specimens in the duplicate-study series of skins ..-. Number of specimens in the alcoholic series......---.---.----- June 30, | June 20, 1886. 1887. 735 752 3, 862 4, 088 2, 854 2,971 7,451 7,811 The number of skins and specimens in alcohol added and distributed during the year is as follows: Number of specimens added during the year ending June 30, 1887 _ Number of specimens distributed during the year ending June 330, 1887 Among the skins and alcoholic specimens added were represented 17 species and subspecies not previously in the collection. The type of Dipodomys deserti, Stephens, was added, and Bat No. 15623 was made the type of a new species, Vespertilio longicrus, True. The last entry in the register for skins and alcoholics on June 30, 1886, was No, 15482; on June 30, 1°87, No. 15899, ~— 94 — REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Aithough the condition of the collection as regards preservation may be considered as generally satisfactory, its condition as regards com- pleteness is quite otherwise. The need of larger series representing geographical races has already been referred to, and we now add some statistics as to the number of species represented. Murray, in his Geographical Distribution of Mammals (1866), recog- nizes 378 genera of Mammals. The National Museum possesses skins of representatives of about 207 of these, or somewhat less than three- fifths. Again, in Troussart’s Catalogue des Mammiféres (1880), 112 gen- era of recent Rodents are given. Of these, the Museum possesses rep- resentatives of only 50 genera; while of the 791 species recognized as belonging in the order, the Museum possesses skins of about 160. When it is remembered that the collection is chiefly made up of North American skins, it becomes evident that the exotic forms are but poorly represented. Though probably surpassing every other col- lection in the world in the amount of material representing a small number of species, it will not bear comparison in general richness with those of soine other Museums of the first class, such as the British Mu- seum, the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, at Paris, and the Royal Zoo- logical Museum of the Netherlands, at Leyden. Thus, in the latter in- stitution, in the genus Sciurus (Squirrels), 59 species are represented, or about six-sevenths of all known species. ‘These 59 species are rep- resented by 638 mounted skins, an average of 11 specimens for each species. In the National Museum but 18 species of the same genus are represented. Again, the Leyden Museum has 26 mounted skins of the genus Manis (Pangolins), representing all of the seven known species ; while the National Museum has but two specimens, representing two species.* The same scarcity of material obtains in the case of the Monkeys, Lemurs, Antelopes, and other groups. The desirability of securing more specimens of the larger Mamalia at the earliest day can not be too strongly set forth. Thelarger forms on every continent are rapidly diminishing in numbers, and some which were abundant half a century ago are now practically extinct. The danger that the National Museum will never be able to exhibit some of the largest and most striking forms is real. A list of the papers published during the year by the curator, and by co-operators, based upon Museum material. is included in the bibli- ography in Section Iv of this report. —— * See Notes from the Leyden Museum, v. p. 142; Iv, p. 209. REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS IN THE U.§, BNL MUSEUM, 1887, By ROBERT RIDGWAY, Curator. The character of work accomplished during the year has not differed materially from that of preceding years. During the fourth annual meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union, held November 16 to 18, inclusive, in the lecture hall of the National Museum, the gallery of the Department of Birds was thrown open to the assembled members of the union, who daily made profitable use of the library and coilections in connection with the objects of the meeting and their researches as ornithologists. . In October, 1886, the Government of Costa Rica sent to Washington Mr. Anastasio Alfaro as their accredited representative, to study the business methods and arrangement of collections in the U.S. National Museum. Being particularly interested in ornithology, Mr. Alfaro spent a very considerable part of his time in the Department of Birds, where he was shown every courtesy and extended every facility for familiarizing himself with the methods of the department. Since his re- turn to Costa Rica that Government has formally established a national museum at the capital, San José, of which Mr. Alfaro was made secre- tary. CLASSIFICATION AND PREPARATION OF SPECIMENS. In regard to the character of routine work in connection with the arrangement and classification of the collection and in the preparation of the exhibition and study series there has been no change from the work of preceding years, there being no opportunity, in the absence of many facitities which are deemed desirable, for inaugurating any im- provements in the condition or arrangement of the collection. The taxidermist has performed the work here indicated : SUM OMMECH TOME X MID IDLO SLICES... =.= 5.92. ee Awe ke Ss son sees onee oteee Hates 262 MemiteOMbITds put On Hew Stands.» 5. ¢ . 02 senednsenccine voces ceewes weunsyeene 455 MES CSE Mh LOPEDITOT yee f) Boe Le ye on ls APO Cetin Aen Hoh Neem te Sea dewete 451 Birds skinned (including mounted specimens made over into skins).-.--...----- 103 96 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. REVIEW OF SPECIAL RESEARCHES PROSECUTED UPON MATERIAL BELONGING TO THE DEPARTMENT. During the year Mr. Leonhard Stejneger has prosecuted actively his very important researches in Japanese ornithology, and the following families have been thoroughly worked up (put in shape for printing) during the year: Woodpeckers, Wrynecks, Rails, Tits, Thrushes (part), Pigeons, Auks; also the order Herodiones (Herons, Storks, Spoonbills, and Ibises), and some smaller groups, as the genera Acanthis and Pyrrhula. Mr. Stejneger’s researches are based on what is believed to be by far the richest collection of Japanese birds extant, and are of very great importance, his methods being characterized by a peculiar degree of care and exactness. The published results include 100 pages referring exclusively to Japanese ornithology, in which are described 11 new species. In addition to his investigation of Japanese ornithology Mr. Stejneger has worked up an interesting collection of birds from the island of Kauai, Hawaiian group, said collection embracing no less than 7 new species (out of a total of only 15 species) and 1 new genus. The curator has during the year completed his series of analytical keys to North American birds, soon to be published by the J. B. Lippin- cott Company, Philadelphia, under the title, “A Manual of North Amer- ican Birds,” a book of royal octavo size, consisting of 631 pages and 464 illustrations of the generic details. ACCESSIONS. The number of additions to the collection of birds has been large, and the following statement will show the sources of the more impor- tant contributions: From W. B. Anderson, of Fort Simpson, British Columbia: 4 specimens, 4 species, from Fort Simpson. From A. W. Anthony, of Denver, Colorado: 8 specimens, 3 species, from Denver, Colorado. From the Auckland Museum, Auckland, New Zealand, were received in exchange 104 specimens, 59 species, allfrom New Zealand. An elegantly prepared collection, of unusual interest, containing many species new to the collection of the Museum. There are fine specimens of 2 species of Ocydromus, Strigops, 2 species of Nestor, Apteryx mantelli, Anarhynchus (4 specimens), Larus, Hematopus unicolor, etc. From C. W. Beckham, of Bardstown, Kentucky: 10 specimens, 6 species, Passerine birds, from Pueblo, Colorado. From James Bell, of Gainesville, Florida: A fresh skin of wild turkey, Meleagris gal- lopavo. From Lieut. H. C. Benson, U. 8. Army, Fort Huachuca, Arizona: 11 specimens, 6 species, of which may be mentioned 6 adults and young Sialia azurea, a young Trogon ambiguus in the first plumage, all from Arizona, and the head of a female Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis), from Sonora, Mexico, a species of which the Museum as yet possesses no complete specimen, the above head being the first frag- ment of this magnificent bird to reach the Museum; 170 specimens, 70 species, chiefly from southern Arizona, and a few from Sonora, Mexico. This collection is one of‘un- usual interest and value as containing a number of rare species excellently prepared. This is an exceedingly important accession, consisting as it does of a fine series of 7 REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS. 97 beautifully prepared specimens of Colinus ridgwayi hitherto not represented in the Museum collection, and 4 equally fine specimens of a new subspecies of Callipepla elegans, named C. elegans bensoni by the curator in honor of its discoverer. A special interest arises from the fact that this collection was made about 150 miles from the United States and Mexican border lines. From E. W. Blake, jr.: 2 Horned Larks from Santa Cruz Island, California. From A. P. Chadbourne, of Boston, Massachusetts : 9 specimens, 6 species, of North American birds were received in exchange. From H. K. Coale, of Chicago, Illinois: 90 specimens, 85 species, from different _ parts of the world, but chiefly from South America and India. Eros 1 iM abeSoEeecee 1 18641...... 9 De ec eeaee ns 2 69 18642...... 22 DOg Sania ere mee 190 1666T o> 2... 20 dl Bence oon 84 18695....-. 3 ao |p2eatoraes 3 1S135~ =<. 6 Ghieeeeeceaeee 22 ISSIR Toca 2 Beles s asin ee an 5 188602 22 2. 4 Ani ecu bees 7 18880..2... (GE oe EB mcr Ae aed Ste meter [cn etree iiStefot Meee 8 Silas satu 20 18882...... 1 alae ee 4 PSOSt ss. 19 PM ater cyan ok 113 TOOT 1 1 dp bra cares Waals 1 #B998 5 =. oe 19 SAD eae soa 142 19013...... 7 PN tee See te 107 19043...... 31 G8) bess. cses os 1, 202 190942. 1 BAe se ees TOTS. oc 170 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. their arts to the splendid forests of pine and cedar which cover their lands. The Bellachoola or Bilkhula belong to the great Salishan stock. Their home is in the vicinity of Bentinck Arm. The cradle of this peo- ple is probably a fair sample of that used by the stocks north and south of the Bilkhulas (Fig. 6). It is a trough-shaped frame of cedar wood made in two pieces, as follows: The bottom and head-board are in one piece about one-half or three-quarters inch thick. The two sides and foot are also in one piece. The angles and the bends near the child’s knees are effected by scarfing the-wood almost through on the inside and boiling and bending it into shape. In this art these Indians are very expert, making great numbers of boxes for food and clothing, with =) 3 ——~ \\ ain je\\ ONS: «A Psu \ i, tN R \ om S x oi AX i h 7 Fig. 7. Fig. 6. Ducout CRADLE, WITH HEAD-FLATTENING] BELLA-COOLA TROUGH-CRADLE. APPARATUS. (Get Wo. 20556, (8. N.M. , ella Bella B. 0. s Cofladtadby, | 4) i NOeEEOR RD James G. Swan. joints invisible on the outside. The joints of this cradle are united by means of small withes of willow. The characteristic marks are a flat bottom; head-board, like a little grave-stone, painted in red and black with conventional symbol of a totem. Two streaks of red paint skirt the upper margin of the sides. The change in the angle of convergence of the sides near the child is effected by scarfing and bending. The bed consists of a mass of finely shredded cedar bark. This is overlaid with some kind of sheet of cloth or fur, and the lashing passes through CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 171 holes in flaps of raw-hide, in place of the series of eyelet loops occurring on cradles farther south. In the commencement of this article two kinds of deformation were mentioned, the designed and the undesigned. The first-mentioned method is found in British Columbia, on its western border, and in our domain along the coast of Washington and Oregon. On the extreme north- west corner of Washington live the Makahs, a people associated with the Ahts on Vancouver Island, and belonging to the Nutkan or Waka- shan stock. Living as they do in the great cedar region, their cradle would naturally be similar to those of the Indians living farther north. It is a trough rudely hewed out of cedar wood. (lig. 7.) A low bridge is left across the trough to strengthen it. Slats are put across to level of height of bridge. The bedding consists of mats of cedar bark. On the lower end of the cradle is a handle. Around the sides are fastened strings. The compress is fastened to head of cradle. It curves over and is tightened by means of cords to the sides of the cradle. It is woven of, and stuffed tightly with, cedar bark. ‘These cradles are sus- pended by strings to pliant poles, swung by the mother with her hand or great toe. Another ecradle-trough in the National Museum, said to have come from Oregon Territory, is a block of cedar wood 30 inches long and 12 inches square, roughly hewn in shape of a boat, with bulging sides. At the foot, on the outside, is carved a handle, function not known. The bed is shredded cedar bark, and the covering a quilt of the same mate- rial, roughly held together by twined weaving; a long pad is hinged to the head-board, and so arranged as to be drawn down over the child’s | forehead and lashed to either side of the trough. There is evident con- nection between the boats of the Northwest and the cradles. An inter- esting feature about this form of cradle is the appliances for lashing the child: (1) A series of holes along the side, just below the margin, parallei with the border most of the way, but sloping quite away from it at the head. (2) A cord of coarse root laid along over these holes on the outside of the cradles. (3) On either side the standard series of loops for the lacing-string is formed by passing a twine through the first hole, around the root cord on the outside, back through the same hole up to the middle of the cradle to form a loop, back through the next hole in the same manner. (4) The lacing-string runs through these loops alternately from bot- tom to top. The ornamentation of this type of cradle is chiefly by means of parti-colored basketry and furs. The Chinuks were an ad- vanced people in art, and many of their cradles were very prettily adorned. Mr, Catlin figured one in which the process of head-flattening is going forward. In Mayne’s “British Columbia and Vancouver’s Island” we read that 172 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. the child lies at full length, and the sides of the cradle are suffi- ciently high to enable the mother to lace it in by a cord passed from side to side, a small block being put at one end as a pillow. When the mother is traveling she carries the cradle on her back in nearly an up- right position, with the head appearing just above her shoulders. But if she is working she suspends the infant from the pliant branch of a tree, or, sticking the pole in the ground at a slight angle, hangs the cradle, sometimes upright, sometimes horizontally, on the end of it. They move pole and cradle so as to keep it near them, and every now and then give it a swing so that, it rocks up and down. It is said that when children die they are put in some lake or pool, in their cradle, and left to float, the water being regarded as sacred ever after. Swan, in his “Indians of Cape Flattery,”* says: ‘“* The practice of flattening the heads of infants, although not universal among the Ma- kahs, is performed in a manner similar to that of the Chinuks and other tribes in the vicinity of the Columbia River. As soon as a child is born it is washed with warm urine, and then smeared with whale oil and placed in a cradle made of bark, woven basket fashion, or of wood, either cedar or alder, hollowed out for the purpose. Into the cradle a quantity of finely separated cedar bark of the softest texture is first thrown. At the foot is a board raised at an angle of about 25 degrees, which serves to keep the child’s feet elevated, or when the cradle is raised to allow the child to nurse, to form a support for the body, or a sort of seat. This is also covered with bark (he-sé-yu). A pillow is formed of the same material, just high enough to keep the head in its natural position, with the spinal column neither elevated nor depressed. First the child is laid on its back, its legs properly extended, its arms put close to its sides, and a covering either of bark or cloth laid over 1t; and then, commencing at the feet, the whole body is firmly laced up, so that it has no chance to move in the least. When the body is well se- cured, a paddin g of he-sé-yu is placed on the child’s forehead, over which is laid bark of a somewhat stiffer texture, and the head is firmly lashed down to the sides of the cradle; thus the infant remains, seldom taken out more than once a day while it is very young, and then only to wash it and dry its bedding. The male children have a small opening left in the covering, through which the penis protrudes, to enabie them to void their urine. The same style of cradle appears to be used whether it 1s intended to compress the skull or not, and that deformity is accom- plished by drawing the strings of the head-pad tightly and keeping up the pressure for a long time. Children are usually kept in these cradles till they are a year old, but as their growth advances they are not tied up quite so long as for the first few months. The mother, in washing her child, seldom takes the trouble to heat water; she simply fills her mouth with water, and when she thinks it warm enough spirts it on the child and rubs it with her hand.” *Smithsonian Cont. to Knowledge, No. 220, pp. 18-19. CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 173 Inhabiting the lower parts of the Columbia are a small tribe who cor- rectly come under the name of Flat Heads, as they are almost the only people who strictly adhere to the custom of squeezing and flattening the . head. The process of flattening consists in placing the infant on a board, to which it is lashed by means of thongs to a position from which it can not escape, and the back of the head supported by a sort of pillow, made of moss or rabbit-skins, with an inclined piece (as seen in the drawing), resting on the forehead of the child, being every day drawn down a little tighter by means of a cord, which holds it in its place until it at length touches the nose, thus forming a straight line from the crown of the head to the end of the nose. This process iS seemingly a very cruel one, though I doubt if it causes much pain, as it is done in earliest infancy, while the bones are soft and easily de- pressed into this distorted shape, by forcing the occipital up and the frontal down. i, Z FLAT HEAD WOMAN AND ee (Showing the manner in which the heads of the children are flattened. ) . The skull at the top in profile will show a breadth of not more than 14 or 2 inches, when in front view it exhibits a great expansion on the sides, making it at the top nearly the width of one and a half natural heads. By this remarkable operation the brain is singularly changed from its natural shape, but in all probability not in the least diminished or injured in its natural functions. This belief is drawn from the tes- timony of many credible witnesses who have closely scrutinized them and ascertained that those who have the head flattened are in no way inferior in intellectual powers to those whose heads are in their natural Shape, 174 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. In the process of flattening the head there is another form of erib or cradle into which the child is placed, much in the form of a small canoe, dug out of a log of wood, with a cavity just large enough to admit: the body of the child and the head also, giving it room-to expand in width, while from the head of the cradle there is a sort of lever, with an elastic spring, that comes down on the forehead of the child and produces the same effect as the one I have described. The child is wrapped in rabbit-skins and placed in this little coffin-like cradle, from which it is not in some instances taken out for several weeks. The bandages over and about the lower limbs are loose and repeatedly taken off in the same day, as the child may require cleansing. But the head and shoulders are kept strictly in the same position, and the breast Vig. 8a. THE CHINUK METHOD OF FLATTENING THE H@EAD. (Plate 21034, Vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years. ) given to the child by holding it up in the eradle, loosing the outer end of the lever that comes over the nose and raising it up or turning it aside so as to allow the child to come at the breast without moving its head. The length of time that the infants are carried in these cradles is three, five, or eight weeks, until the bones are so formed as to keep their shape. This cradle has a strap that passes over the woman’s forehead whilst the cradle rides upon her back, and if the child dies during its subjection to this rigid mode its cradle becomes its coffin, forming a little canoe, in which it lies floating on the water in some sacred pool. (Catlin, vol. tI, p. 110.) The hood is of rawhide, overlaid with CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 175 From the Oregon coast the Wilkes Expedition* brought a cradle which is shown in Fig. 9. The frame board is trowel or spade shape. The whole back and front are covered with buckskin. At a proper distance from the edges, the buckskin is sewed or lashed down, and the flaps form the inclosing wrappings of the child. A triangular ‘ fly” covers the lower extremities. Compare this portion of the cradle with the Nez Percés (Sa- haptian) cradle described further on. a cover of beaded buckskin. It can readily be seen that this hood may be drawn to any tension across the forehead of the infant. The ornamen- tation and the head-band or carrying- strap are similar to the same parts in other cradles. Wilkes (Explor. Exped., Iv, 388) says: “At Niculuita Mr. Drayton obtained a drawing of a child’s head that had just been released from its bandages, in order to secure its flattened appearance. Both parents showed great delight at N CRADLE OF OREGON INDIANS. the success they had met with in effect- (Cat. No. 2575, U. S. N.M. Collected by Wilkes’ Ex- ing this distortion.” (See Fig. 10.) _ To ce : *Marchand (Voyages) reports that among the Thinkeets, infants are ‘‘so excoriated by fermented filth, and so scarred by their cradle, that they carry the marks to the grave.” (Bancroft, Nat. Races of Pacific States, vol.1, p. 112.) Lord (Nat., vol. 1, p. 232), Scouler (Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. x1, pp. 218, 220, 223), Schoolcraft (Arch., vol. 11, p. 325) mention the custom of flattening the head in infancy among the Haidahs (Columbians). (Bancroft, Nat. Races, etc., 1,158.) In their platform houses they slept on ‘‘cedar mats” (p. 161). ; Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. 1): ‘‘ The custom of flattening the head is practiced by the Nootkas in common with the Sound and Chinook families, but is not universal” (p. 180. See, also, note, p. 58). Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. 1, note, p. 177) quotes the accounts of Cook, Meares, Mofras, Macfie, Poole, Sutil y Mexicana, Mayne, and Scouler, to the effect that the Nootka Indians are bow-legged and intoed from boat work, and have deformed limbs fromthe effect of garters. Swan, J. G. (Indians of Cape Flattery, Smithsonian Contributions, No. 220): Description of the process of head-flattening among the Indians of Vancouver Island (pp. 18, 19). Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas, London, 1807, 4to): ‘‘In the latitude of fifty-two degrees, on the northwest coast of America, there exists a tribe whose heads are molded into a wedge-like form” (p. 303). Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol.1): The custom of head-flattening, apparently of sea-board origin and growth, extends * * * across 176 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Governor Stevens (Ind. Aff. Rep., 1854, p. 227) says: “The women at Walla Walla sit astride in a saddle made with a very high pommel and Fig. 10. SHOWING THE EFFECT OF H&AD-FLATTENING. (From drawing by Mr. Drayton, published in Wilkes’ Exploring Expedi- tion, Iv, p. 388.) cantle, and in traveling carry their infants either dangling by the cradle strap to the former or slung in a blanket over their shoulders.” The the Cascade barrier, and is practiced to a greater or less extent by all the tribes of the Sahaptian family.” They merely depress slightly the forehead of infants, and this disappears at maturity ” (p. 256). Macfie, M. (Vancouver Island and British Columbia, London, 1865): Between lat. 53° 30’ N. and lat. 46° N. the Indians of the northwest coast of America flatten the head, under the impression that the distortion is becoming (p. 441). Macfie (idem., p. 441) gives the following account of the process of head-flat- tening among the coast tribes: ‘‘ The child, as soon as born, is placed in a cradle scooped out of a log of timber. Thisrude ark is flat at the bottom, and raised at the point where the neck of the child rests. A flat stone is fastened to the head of the infant im this posture by thin strips of twisted bark. In the situation indicated the child is kept till able to walk, and its forehead has been molded into the required shape.” In the Quatsino district the skulls of the women have “‘a tapering or coni- calform” * * * produced by artificial means. Only the families of chiefs (tenass) and ‘‘gentlemen commoners” (tyhees) are permitted to modify the form of the head. Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. 1): The Sound In- dians, among the Columbians, flatten the head, ‘‘ but none carry the practice to such an extent as their neighbors on the south” (p. 210). Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. 1): Among the Chinooks the “legs are bowed and otherwise deformed by a constant squatting posi- tion in and out of their canoes” (p. 224). Head-flattening ‘‘seems to have origi- nated * * * about the mouth of the Columbia,” and the Chinooks carry the cus- tom to an excess of deformity (p. 226). Bancroft remarks that ‘‘the Chinook ideal of facial beauty is a straight line from the end of the nose to the crown of the head. ‘The flattening of the skull is effected by binding the infant to its cradle immediately after birth, and keeping it there from three months to a year. Thesimplest form of cradle is a piece of board or plank, on which the child is laid upon its back with itsthead slightly raised by a block of wood. Another piece of wood, or bark, or leather is then placed over the forehead and tied to the plank with strings, which are tightened more and more each day until the skull is shaped to the required pattern. Space is left for lateral expansion, and, under ordinary circumstances, the child’s head is not allowed to leave its position un- til the process is complete. The body and limbs are also bound to the cradle, but more loosely, by bandages, which are sometimes removed for cleansing purposes,” (Native Races, etc., vol. 1, p. 227.) ys re a —_— eS Se “EE ee les sien le Sa CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 177 same authority says that the Clallams, and in fact all the Sound Indians, flatten the head (243).* Mr. William Meinold, in sending to the National Museum the skull of a Flathead Indian from northwest Montana, writes as follows: ‘* When the child is about one week old it is put on a board and tied hand and foot. A small bag of sand is tied over the forehead and remains in this position eight or ten days. It is then taken off for a short rest and afterwards fastened to the board again. This continues from six weeks . to six months. The head then has its shape and grows in the right di- rection. The skull mentioned belonged to Redgrass, a chief, who died about forty years ago. His body was deposited.on posts 6 feet high. In his canoe were found beads, and a General Harrisor badge of 1841.t * Meares, J. (Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America, London, 1791, 8vo), de- scribes the compression of head into the form of a ‘“‘sugar loaf” among Indians of Nootka Sound by bandages. Says the process flattens the nose (vol. II, p. 37). Wilkes, Commander (U. 8S. Exploring Expedition, Philadelphia, 1845, 4to, vol. 1v): Two plates illustrating head-flattening among the Indians of Niculuita (Wallawalla), observed by Mr. Drayton (p. 415). Flower quotes Kane’s description of the process of head-compression in Vancouver (p. 13). He refers to evident distortion in the case of an order of Chinese mendicants, as indicated by plate 131, vol. 11, Picart, Histoire des Religions. He quotes Townsend’s account of head-flattening among the Walla- mets (p. 14). a + Catlin, George. (Illustrations of the Manners, etc., of the N. Amer. Indians. Lon- don, 1876, 8vo, vol. 1.) Head of Crow chief distorted into semi-lunar shape, with com- pression of forehead (p. 50). Vol. um. Head-flattening among Chinooks. Descrip- tion of cradle and process (pp. 110,111). Statement concerning the former preva- lence of this custom among Choctaws and Chickasaws (p. 112). The evidence af- forded by this and other works dealing with the details of life points to the fact that head distortion is less practiced now thanformerly. Itexistsat present sporadically. Cox, R. (The Columbia River. London, 1832, 3d ed.8vo.) On the Lower Columbia all heads were distorted; and there was a-perfect uniformity in their shape (vol.1, pp. 105,106). Speaking of ‘‘Flatheads,” says, their “ heads have their fair proportion of rotundity” (1, pp. 219-222). Gathlamahs, Killymucks, Clatsops, Chinooks, Chilts, at mouth of Columbia, flatten the head. Cradle oblong, with pillow. Pad and slab on forehead held by cords. Time, a year. No pain (vol. 1, page 276). Among this group of tribes the body and limbs among the men well shaped, but the women’s legsare ‘‘ quite bandy,” owing to the tight ligatures they wear on the lower part of the legs (vol 1, p. 276). Wood, J.G. (Uncivilized Races of Men. Hartford, 1871. 8vo.) Description of the process of head-flattening among the Columbia Indians (pp. 1319, 1320). Lewis and Clark. (Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri, etc. Philadelphia, 1814. 8vo.) On the Kimooenim, an affluent of the Columbia, ‘‘the Sokulk women” had ‘‘their heads flattened in such a manner that the forehead is in a straight line from the nose to the crown of the head” (vol. 11, p. 12). The women of the Pishquit- paws, on the Columbia, had ‘‘ their heads flattened ” (vol. 11, p.23). Among the Enee- shurs and Elcheloots ‘‘ the heads of the males, as well as of the other sex,” were flat- tened (vol. 11, p.45). The women of an unnamed tribe on the sameriver ‘‘ universally have their heads flattened,” and they saw ‘‘female children undergoing the opera- tion” (vol. 11, p.57). Pressure of anklets and mode of sitting also distorted their legs (id.). “The Skilloots, both males and females, have the head flattened” (vol. 11 p. 64). The Wahkiacums ‘‘all have their heads flattened” (vol. 11, p. 69). Head-flattening is general among the ‘‘ Chinnooks.” Men’s legs ‘‘small and crooked ; women’s tumefied H. Mis. 600, pt. 2 12 178 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. The Hupa Indians of northwestern California belong to the Tinnéan stock. They have been described in a paper entitled, ‘‘ The Ray Col- lection in the U.S. National Museum.”* The cradle-basket of the Hupas of northwestern California is a slipper shaped, open-work basket of osier warp, and twined weaving constitutes the body of the cradle. (Fig. 11.) It is woven as tollows: Commencing at the upp:rend, the small ends of the twigs are held in place one eighth of an inch apart by three rows of twined weaving, followed by a row in which an ex- tra strengthening twig is whipped or sewed in place, as in the Makah basketry. At intervals of 24 to3 inches are three 1ows of twined basketry, every alternate series having one of the strengthening twigs, increasing in thickness downward. The twigs constitut- ing the true bottom of the so-called slipper continue to the end of the ~ square toe, and are fastened off, while those that form the sides are ingeniously bent to form the vamp of the slipper. This pait of Be ashe Water oc cette the frame is held together by rows (Cat. No. 126519, U.S. N. M. Hupa Valley, California. of twined weaving (boustrophedon). Collected by Lieut. P. H. Ray, U.S. A.) When two rows of this kind of twining lie quite close it has the appearance of a four-ply plaiting, and has been taken for such by the superficial observer. The binding around the opening of the cradle is formed of a bundle of twigs seized with a strip of bast or tough root. The awning is made of open wicker and twined basketry, bound with Fig. 11. by pressure of bead anklets (vol. 01, p. 115). The Cookoooose, on the Pacific coast, donot flatten the head (vol. 11, p.119). It is stated that ‘the Killamucks, Clatsops, Chinnooks, and Cathlamahs * * * have thick ankles and crooked legs” due to ‘‘the uni- versal practice of squatting, * * * and alsotothe tight bandages of beads and strings worn around the ankles by the women,” whose limbs are “particularly ill- shaped and swollen.” ‘The custom * * * of flattening the head by artificial pressure during infancy, prevails among all the nations we have seen west of the Rocky Mountains” (Snakes and Cookoooose they themselves except). ‘‘To the east of that barrier the fashionis * * * perfectly unknown.” An error! ‘On the lower parts of the Columbia both sexes are universally flatheads; the custom dimin- ishesinrecedingeastwird, * * * till among theremoter tribes, near the mount- ains,” the practice ‘‘is confined to a few females” (vol. 11, pp. 130, 131). “Smithsonian Report, 1836, i., pp. 205-239, pl. xxv1. CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES 179 colored grass. This pretty, flat cone resembles the salmon-baskets fig- ured and described in the Ray collection.* There is in the National Museum a cradle for a new-born babe, from the McCloud River Indians of California, belonging to the basket-tray type. It is shaped very much like a large grain-scoop or the lower half of.a moccasin inverted, and made of twigs in twired weaving. There are double rows of twining two inches or thereabouts apart, and nearly all of them are interlocked, which gives the appearance of a four- ply braid. The meshes form a diamond pattern by inclusion in the half turns of the twine quincuncially. The general shoe-shape of the cradle is produced by commencing at the heel, which is here the bottom, and doubling the twigs by a continually sharper turn until along the bottom the rods simply lie parallel, that is, the rods that lie along the middle of the bottom terminate at the heel, while those that form the sides and upper end are continuous. Around the edge and forming a brace across the upper end is a border made of a bundle of rods seized with tough bast or split root.t The twigs themselves project upwards an inch or two from this brace, and are not fastened off. (Figs. 11 and 12.) The Modoc women make a very pretty baby-basket of fine willow- work, cylinder-shaped, with one-half of it cut away, except afew inches at the ends{ It is intended to be set up against the wall or carried on the back; hence the infant is lashed perpendicular in it, with his feet standing in one end and the other covering his head, like a small para- sol. In one that I saw this canopy was supported by small standards, spirally wrapped with strips of gay-colored calico, with looped and scal- loped hangings between. Let a mother black her whole face below the eyes, including the nose, shining black, thrust a goose quill 3 inches long through the septum of the nose, don her close-fitting skull cap and start to town with her baby-basket lashed to her back, and she feels the pride of maternity strong within her. The little fellow is wrapped all around like amummy, with nothing visible but his head, and sometimes even that is bandaged back tight, so that he may sleep standing. From the manner in which the tender skull is thus bandaged back it oc- casionally results that it grows back ward and upward at an angleof about 45 degrees. Among the Klamath Lake Indians I have seen a man fifty years old, perhaps, whose forehead was all gone, the head sloping right * Perouse, G. de la. (Voyage Round the World. London, 1799. 8yo. Vol. ur.) Description by Dr. Rollin of the manner of swathing infants and of the cradles used by the California Indians (p.209). Almost the same statement is made of the treat- ment of infants among the Tartars of the east coast, opposite Saghalien. Their cradles were of basket work, wood or birch bark (p. 237). tBancroft. (Native Races of the Pacific States. New York, 1873. Vol. 1.) Among the central Californian tribes, ‘‘as soon as the child is born” it is washed ‘“‘and then swaddled from head to foot in strips of soft skin and strapped to a board, which is carried on the mother’s back” (p. 391). { Powers, Cont. N. A. Ethnol., 111, p. 257. 180 _ REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. back on a line with the nose, yet his faculties seemed nowise impaired. The conspicuous painstaking which the Modoc squaw spends on her baby-basket is an index of her maternal love. Indeed the Modoc are strongly attached to their offspring. On the other hand a California squaw often carelessly sets her baby in a deep conical basket, the same in which she carried her household effects, leaving him loose and liable to fall out. If she makes a baby-basket it is totally devoid of orna- ment, and one tribe, the Mi-woh, contemptuously call it the dog’s nest. It is among Indians like these that we hear of infanticide. ah 5 im, ay Fig. 12. Fig. 13. KLAMATH CRADLE OF WICKER AND RUSHES. FRAME OF PITT RIVER CRADLE. (Cat. No. 19698, U.S. N. M. Klamath Indians, Tule River, (Cat. No 21411, Round Valley, California, California. Collected by Stephen Powers. ) U.S.N.M. Collected by Stephen Powers. ) The cradle of the Pitt River Indians is a transition between the forked stick and the ox-bow type. UNLOAD AP NNN Sah i 4 q ft SpA evaaT EY BS i, it SSI NSS i] he ae | (ee (| |) eee f ee Fig. 15. MOHAVE CRADLE, WITH BED OF SHREDDED BARK. (Cat. No. 24146, U. S. N. M. Colorado River, Arizona. Collected by Edward Palmer.) in the shape of an ox-bow, the sides 7 inches apart at top and 54 inches at bottom, so that the cradle is a little narrower at the foot. Eleven cross-bars, like ladder-rounds, connect and strengthen the frame, com- mencing at the bottom and ending near the bow. These rounds con- sist each of three elements: a rod or spreader between the two sides; a Strap-like binding of two or three split twigs clasping the sides and laid along on the spreader; a seizing of tough twigs holding fast the Straps and spreader. The drawing of the reverse side clearly sets forth the manner of administering the light but strong cross-bracing. Upon this ladder is laid the cradle-bed of willow or mezquite bast, made as follows: Three bundles of stripped bast, each about an inch in diameter, are lashed at their middle with bast. They are then doubled together concentrically and spread out to form a bed. On this is laid a little loose, finely-shredded bast like a nest, and the bed is ready for the baby. A dainty quilt or counterpane of bast is made from strips 30 inches long, doubled and braided at the top like a cincture. This braiding is 184 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. unique, and so very neatly done as to demand explanation. Twostrips of bast are seized about their middle by a single twist of the two ele- ments of twined weaving. Of course two halves will project above and two below the twist. Lay two more strips of bast in the second bight of the twist and draw down the first two upper ends, one to the right of and the other between the second pair of strips, seizing them in place by another half turn of the twines. Lay on a thin pair of bast strips and bring down the second pair of ends projecting upward, as at first. The weaving consists of four movements, namely: Laying in a pair of bast strips, grasping them with a half turn of the two twining wefts, bending down the two upward strips just preceding one between the other outside of the last two strips; and grasping them with a half turn of the twine. The lashing belts of this cradle are twelve to fifteen ply braids, made of red, green, white, and black woolen and cotton cords, braided after the manner of the peculiar type of ornamentation unde- signedly originated by braiding with threads of different colors. On this belt of several colors the threads are so arranged as to produce a continuous series of similar triangles, filling the space between two par- allel lines by having their bases above and below alternately. Now the gist of the ornamentation is the parallelism of the braiding threads, now to one side of the triangle, and in the next figure running in a di- rection exactly at right angles. One of the commonest ornaments on the pottery, rude stone, and carved wood is this distribution of lines in triangles. Of the Pimos, neighbors of the Mohaves, Dr. Palmer says, that on long journeys they use the cradle-board; but as soon as a child is able to Stand alone the Pimo mother allows it to mount upon the immense cincture of bark worn on her back and to grasp her around the neck.* The floor of the Yaqui cradle is of the slatteded type, 30 inches long. A dozen or more reeds, such as arrow-shafts are made of, are fastened in the same plane by a dowel-pin. The reeds are not bored for the pins, but simply notched in a primitive fashion. (Fig. 16.) There is no cradle-trough, but a bed of willow or other bast, shredded, is laid on longitudinally. The pillow consists of a bundle of little splints laid on transversely, at either end of which is a pad of rags. There is no awning; the lashing in this instance is a long cotton rag, taking the place of a leather strap, passing round and round baby and frame, and fastened off in a martingale arrangement, crossing the feet and tied to the lower corners of the cradle. Upon this cradle-rack or frame is. fastened the true cradle, which, in this instance, is a strip of coarse mat, * Bourke, Capt. J. G.: Speaking of the Umene of the Rio Helay, in 1824, who must have been the Yumas of the Rio Gila, Pattie says: ‘‘ They contrive to inflict upon their children an artificial deformity. They flatten their heads by pressing a board upon their tender scalps, which they bind fast by a ligature. This board is so large and tight that I have seen women when swimming in the river with their children, towing them after them with a string which they held in their mouth. The little things neither suffered nor complained, but floated behind their mothers like ducks.” (Pattie’s Narrative, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1833, p. 92.) CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 185 made of soft flags, a foot wide, joined by cross-rows of twined weaving 2 inches apart. This mat is bordered by a braid of flags, and the two ends are puckered or drawn toa point. The cradle belongs to the open, unhooded type, and is made by doubling the matting at the head and drawing it together to a point at the foot. The two edges next to the cradle-frame are joined and fastened to the frame, while the outer edge is allowed to flare open. In this little ark of fiags or rushes the baby is placed.* The children of the California peninsula stand and walk before they are a year old. When they are born they are cradled in the shell of a turtle or on the ground. As soon as the child is a few months old, the mother places it perfectly naked astraddle on her shoulders, its legs hanging down on both sides in front. In this guise the mother roves about all day, exposing her helpless: charge to the hot rays of the sun and the chilly winds that sweep over the inhospitable country. t. Like her white sister, the Indian mother (to be) in Montana and her friends make prepa- rations for the coming event by collecting cloths, and the board that the child is to pass so many hours of its first year of life on, which, if richly ornamented with beads, otter- skin, and fringes, with bells on them, is worth a good horse, which is generally whatis given _ for the child’s board or cradle. Thisis usually YAQut CRADLE, MADE OF CANES. _ the case when the boy or girl is given and (u.s.n.m._ sonora, Mexico. Collected by adopted by another mother. So an Indian el ea child has generally two mothers, and of course two fathers, but the father has but little to do with the child till it is old enough to run around. When the child is born it is taken in charge by its adopted mother, or by a hired woman. It is washed, dried, then greased, and powdered with red ocher, then nursed by some Indian woman or its mother, and wrapped up, with its arms down by its side, in a buffalo-calf skin or Shawl or small blanket, and placed in its board or cradle, to be taken * Acosta, Padre José de. (The Natural.and Moral History of the Indies. Ed. Hak- luyt Soc. London. 1820. 8vo.) Of the ‘“‘ Chichimecas”—sayage mountaineers—he says: “ The wives likewise went a hunting with their husbands, leaving their young children in a little panier of reeds, tied to the boughs of a tree.” (Vol. 11, p. 450.) Head-flattening. (Mexico.) ‘Las parteras hacen que las criaturas no tengan colo- drillos; y las madres las tienen echadas en cunas de tal] suerte que no les crezca, porque se precian sin el.” (Gémara, Mejico, p. 440.) t Cradle of Turtle-shell, Low. Cal. Inds., 1773. Baegert, in Smithsonian Rep., 1863, p. 362. Se ee eee 186 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. around to its relations’ lodges for inspection. Every evening it is taken from its confinement to be washed, painted, and dressed again, and greased. The first cloth over its posterior is laid with a coating of dry pulverized buffalo dung or chips, and this is used as a white woman uses a diaper. As it grows older it is taken by its mother, placed up in the lodge or outside, while she goes about her work. If the child is restless it is nursed while on the board. After six to eight months of age the child is laid to sleep without the board, and it is generally discarded after a year old, though I have seen Indian boys and girls suckling at five and six years of age. An Indian child, like a white one, is pleased with toys, candy, etc., and their instincts are alike. They ery, laugh, are amused, frightened, and astonished, and as they are born and: brought up so do they live. . The board upon which a child is laid is covered with a tanned elk- skin or deer.skin, and beads worked onit. The place where the child reposes is loose, and is laced and tied up when the child is placed in it.* The straps for carrying and suspending it are on the opposite side of the board, and in carrying, the strap is brought over the head and placed across the upper part of the breast and across the shoulders. This brings the board upon which the back of the child rests against the back of the mother. The board is one-quarter of an inch thick, from 23 to 3 feet in length, and 14 feet in bulge of board. The Nez Percé Indians belong to the Sahaptian stock, and were once a noble people, dwelling on the Snake River and its affluents in Idaho. They have produced the historical character, Chief Joseph, but are now reduced to an enervated remnant dwelling on the Nez Percé Reservation. The basis of the cradle is a rough board, generally hewn out, 3 feet high, 15 inches wide at the top, and not more than an inch thick. It is shaped somewhat like a tailor’s sleeveboard, but is more tapering (Fig. 17). This board is covered with buckskin, drawn per- fectly tight upon the back and across the broad part of the front as far down as the hood, or about one-third the length. Below that the two edges of the buckskin form flaps, which meet nearly over the child. Along the edges of these flaps strings are looped, into which loops a lashing cord passes backward and foi ward to inclose the child tightly in its capsule. On the top of the back a fringe of buckskin strings is formed, either by slitting the buckskin covering itself or by a separate strip sewed on at this point. A little above the center is sewed the head- strap of buckskin, to enable the mother to transport her child or to sus- pend it when at rest. The hood of the cradle is based upon the flaps of buckskin, but these are entirely concealed by the covering of flannel or other substance. The most ornamented portion of the cradle is the * Catlin, George. (Illustrations of the Manners, etc., of the N. American Indians. London. 1876, 8vo. Vol.1.) Head of Crow chief distorted into semi-lunar shape (p. 50). CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 187 part above the hood; a piece of flannel or buckskin is covered with bead-work, solid, or has figures wrought upon it in various patterns. To the hood are attached medicine-bags, bits of shell, haliotis perhaps, and the whole artistic genius of the mother is in play to adorn her offspring. After the child is lashed in the cradle, a triangular flap of buckskin, also adorned with bead-work, is tied over the child to the buckskin flaps on either side. The Spokanes belong to the Salishan stock. They are described by Lewis and Clarke, by Governor Stevens (Rep. Ind. Aff., 1854), and by Winans. Living on the eastern border of the Salish area in Idaho and Washington Territory, their cradles are almost identical with those of the Nez Percés, just described.* Neither of the specimens contains ~ a bed or a pillow, so that we are at a loss as to the effect of the cradle in occipital flattening. But we can be positive as to one thing, that in neither of these examples is there the least provision for intention- ally deforming the forehead. The Salish are frequently called Flatheads, but from the example of cradle furnished it seems that they are the Fig. 17. Fig. 18. NkEZ PERcE CRADLE-BOARD WITH BUCKSKIN SIDES. SAHAPTIAN CRADLE-BOARD. (Cat. No, 23845, U.S. N. M. Nez Percé Agency, Idaho. Collected by (Cat. No. 129675, U.S.N. M. Spokane Indians, Washingtno. J. B. Monteith. ) Collected by Mrs, A. C. McBean, only coast stock about the Columbia that does not practice intentional flattening. The Museum specimen from the Spokanes is an excellent example of aborigival work. (Fig. 18.) Everything about itis complete. * See Fig. 17. 188 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. oa On the back is a long ornamental fringe at top, and lower down both the head-strap and two extra straps at the margin to secure the cradle in other manipulations. Theupper porticn of the front is covered with bead-work, solid blue ground, with bird-shaped figures in amber ‘and pink beads. On the right side of the hood hangs a long medicine bag of buckskin, adorned with light-blue beads of large size. A newspaper correspondent from this region mentions a buckskin string upon these cradles in which a knot is tied for every moon of the child’s life. There are little buckskin strings in the margin of this cradle near the hood, but no knots have been tied in either of the cradles here described. In these two, asin many others mentioned in this paper, there is a charming combination of the old and the new. The slab, the buckskin, the medicine-bag, the fringe, the lashing are all pre-Columbian. The - beads, the flannel, the cloth lining, ete., are evidently derived ma- terially from the whites. There is no change of structure or function effected by any of these things. They simply replace other materials, such as quill-work, shell-work, native cloth, fur or buckskin, in use be- fore the advent of the whites. \\ A « AK 0 : eN Tig. 19. reton ig. 20. NEVADA UTR CRADLE-FRAME: OF RODS, WITH AD- g JUSTARLE AWNING. NEVADA UTE CRADLE; FULL RIGGED. (Cat. No 76734, U. S. N. M. Specimen cbtained from the Nevada (Cat. No. 19040, U. S. N. M. Pyramid Lake, Nevada. exhibit at the New Orleans Exposition ) Collected by Stephen Powers. ) y One of the widest-spread stocks of Indians formerly were the Sho- shonians, reaching down the Great Interior Basin throughout its whole 4 ae a, ee ee eS wt tele TR se t ia A ee CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 189 i. extent, crossing the Rockies on the east under the name of Comanches, and in southern California extending quite to the Pacific Ocean. Spread over such a vast territory, the Shoshonian cradle was modified here and there by the nature of things, by the contact of dominant tribes, and by changed habits of life. The Utes of Pyramid Lake, Nevada, make use of a flat wicker cradle- frame, kite-shaped or roughly triangular. The widening is effected by the intercalation of rods as they are wanted. At the top the rods are held in place by a cross-rod lashed to the ends of the parailel pieces. The twined weaving is characteristic of the Utes in all of their textiles. A pretty addition to the Ute cradle is the delicate awning of light wicker attached by its lower narrow border to the bed-frame and held at the proper angle by means of braces made of the same material (Figs. 19, 20). Three specimens from this area are in the Museum, showing them as frame and as finished cradles. Indeed, we have only to cover the lat- tice with buckskin after the manner of those used by the Spokanes and the affair is complete. In the eastern portion of Utah once dwelt various tribes of Ute In- dians. In the National collection is a cradle from this region marked Uncompaghre Utes (Fig. 21). It is an old affair, showing scarcely a eA iN mt \ i\ > Mul RST WWI AS == Sirens i = 22 5 eS EES am Sl ec noe Sa a Maal SoS 4 MN "4 ih, Vig. 21. UNCOMPAGHRE UTE CRADLE; SHOWING FRONT AND BACK. (Cat. No. 128342, U. S. N. M. Uncompaghre River, Colorado (?). Collected by Captam Beckwith, U. S.-A.) sign of white contact, excepting a bunch of blue rag over the hood. The cradle is built upon a thin board 4 feet high, 18 inches wide at top, and tapering to half that width at bottom. The covering is of buck- Skin, seamed on the back, and very clumsily put on. There are two 2 190 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ; .d suspension straps, one near the top and the other very low down. On the front the buckskin has loose flaps to inclose the child. The hood or’ awning is a very curious affair, and if closely drawn down would cer- tainly give to the Uncompaghre child the forehead of a Flathead. It is a kind of tiara, made of little twigs lashed to stronger rods. The lower margin over the child’s forehead is bound with soft buckskin The hard ecradle-board allies it to the Northern type, where timber is larger, rather than to the pure Ute type, where a burdle takes the place of the board. The cradle-frame of the Southern Utes is so well shown in the three drawings presented as not to need very minute description (Figs. 22, 23, 24). The frame-work consists of three parts, the slats, the hoop, SS SS mS) us SSS =~ BN \ = My RY THREE VIEWS OF UTE CRADLE-FRAME, MADE OF RODS AND COVERED WITH { DRESSED BUCK-SKIN. (Cat. No. 14646, U.S. N. M. Southern Utah. Collected by Major J. W. Powell.) and the hood. A dozen twigs like arrow-shafts, 4 feet long, are held in place by here and there a twine of basketry; across the portion to which the ends of the head-band are to be attached a rod is lashed to hold the lattice firmly in place. A hoop of twig, elliptical in form, is lashed to the frame wherever it touches and to the ends of the cross.rod. To the upper border of the hoop is sewed an irregular quadrangular piece of twined basketry weaving. Its outer border is sewed to a rod, which is bent and fastened at its ends to the slats. This forms the CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. Lon awning of the cradle. Weare now ready for the cover, which is formed by a wide piece of the whitest buckskin, wrapped on as in making a bundle, sewed on the back and slit open in front. The upper portion is cut into the neatest possible fringe. A broad head-band of soft buck- skin completes the outfit. A specimen from the same locality varies somewhat in detail. This cradle has the ox-bow frame lathed along the back with twigs close together and held in place by a continuous seizing of sinew. Although a rude affair, this fact is evidently due to the lack of material in a desert country rather than to want of taste in the maker. The awn- ing for the face is a band of wicker, 4 inches wide, attached by its ends to the side frame of the cradle. This band is of twined weaving, the weft running boustrophedon. | Notice especially that each half turn of the twine takes in two warp twigs, and that when the weaver turned backward she did not inclose the same pairs of warp twigs, but twined them in quincuncially, creating a mass of elongated rhomboidal open- ings, exactly as the Aleutian Islanders weave their marvelously fine erass wallets, while the Ute weaving is a model of coarseness in an iden- tical technique. The head-band of buckskin is not tied immediately to the bowed frame, but is knotted to a loop made of a narrow string, wound three times around the frame and knotted.* The elements of the Moki cradle-frame are the floor and the awning. Asa foundation a stout stick is bent in shape of the ox-yoke bow. Rods of the size of a lead-pencil are attached to the curve of this bow and stretched parallel to the limbs of the bow. Twigs are closely woven on this warp by regular basketry weaving. The Mcki are the only savages west of the Rocky Mountains who practice this real wicker weaving. The awning, as the drawing shows, is a band of the same kind of weav- ing on a warp of twigs in bunches of twos or threes, these last attached to blocks of wood at the ends of, the fabric. The awning is bowed up- ward and the end blocks lashed to the upper portions of the limbs of the bow. A small aperture in the floor is for convenience in cleansing. The next figure shows how by using parti-colored and finer twigs, and by a different administration of the middle warp strands and the awn- ing, pretty varieties of the same style of cradle may be effected (Figs. 25. 26). The Zui cradle-board is worthy of our closest study (Fig. 27). It is founded on a rough piece of board, hewn out to an inch in thickness, 3 feet. long, and about a foot wide. A pillow-rest of wood is fastened so as to steady the head. This is pegged or nailed down to the board. * Powell, Maj. J.W. (Exploration of the Colorado River. Washington, 1875. 4to). In Grand Cafion the Indians ‘‘ make a wicker board by plaiting willows, * * * sew a buckskin cloth to eitheredge, * * * fulledin the middle, * * * to forma sack,” and place the child, wrapped in fur, within this. There is a wicker shade at the head, and the cradle is slung on the mother’s back by a strap passing over the forehead (p 127). 192 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. There is no buckskin covering, but « set of loops along the edges serve to acconrplish the lashing. The most curious part of the apparatus is a series of four bows or half hoops of equal radius. These are woven to the side of the board, as indicated in the drawing. A string is tied to the top of the board and to each of the hoops at a certain distance, so that when the loose end of the string is pulled the hoops form a “‘buggy Fig. 25. Fig. 26. Moxk! CRADLE-FRAME, OF COARSE WICKER, WITH MOKI GRADLE-FRAME, OF FINE WICKER, RE- AWNING. : SEMBLING THE SACRED MEAL-TRAY. AWN- IN : UNIQUE. (Cat No. 23154a. Moki Pucblos, Arizona Collected by Maj. J. W. Powell.) (Cat. No. 11789a, U. S. N. M. Moki Pueblos. Arizona. Collected by Maj. J. W. Powell. ) top,” or adjustable hood to the cradle. In no other cradle is the prob- lem more delicate. It depends almost entirely upon the bed to nullify the effects of this cradle. Without examining the heads of Zani Indians at all we ought to find the occiput pushed in, flattened, and asymmet- rical. Should they prove otherwise, it is right to assume a bed able to counteract this influence. The Apache Indians of Arizona and New Mexico* make a very elaborate cradle, the substantial part consisting of the frame and the hood. (Fig. 28,ab) The frame is elliptical in form, the outline being formed by a pole of wood bent and the two ends spliced and lashed. Upon this ellipse are laid laths of white pine, planed. Over the child’s * Baneroft. (Native Races of the Pacific States. New York, 1873. Vol.1.) Among the Apaches of the Lower Colorado the great toe ‘‘is widely separated from the others, which arises probably from wading in marshy bottoms” (p. 479). A CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 193 face is built the hood formed by bending two bows of supple wood to - the required shape and overlaying them with transverse laths of pine laid close together and tied down. The upper edges of these laths are beveled, so as to give a pretty ies effect to the curved surface. The leather-work on the cradle consists of a gable of white buckskin to the hood, a binding of brown buckskin on to the bowed frame above the hood, variegated with narrow bands of white buckskin, and, finally, the true sides or capsule of the cradle, consisting of a strip of soft brown buckskin, say 10 inches wide, cut in a fringe along its lower border and edged with fringe of white buckskin along its upper outer edge. This strip is fastened to the cradle con- tinuously, commencing at an upper margin of the awning, carried along this awning, fastened to, its lower margin 4 inches above the junction of the awning and frame, passes on to the foot and around to the other Fig. 27 side, as at first. Slits are made in ZUSt CRADLE-FRAME. pe own buck: ete eearonnenaae skin just below where the white buckskin fringe is sewed or run on, and back and forward through these slits a broad soft band of buckskin passes to form the cradle lashing. To perfect the ornamentation of this beautiful object, tassels of buckskin in two colors, and strings of red, white, and blue beads are disposed with great care. Thanks to the generosity of friends living on the frontier, it is possible to reproduce from photographs the method of fastening the child in the cradle. (Fig. 29.) A bed of fur lies between the back of the infant and the floor of the cradle. The head is perfectly loose and free during waking moments. Indeed, there is always free play to the child’s head in all cradles except on the Pacific coast around the Columbia River and Puget Sound. Another drawing (Fig. 30) exhibits the method of nursing the babe without removing it from the cradle. Finally, Fig. 31 shows an infant and a small child that have been subjected to the cradle-board. The cradle-frame of the Navajos is made of two pieces of wood lashed together so as to make the upper end or head in shape like a boot-jack. To the sides of these boards long loops of buckskin are attached to aid in the lashing (Fig. 32). A new feature in western cradles appears in M, Mis, > 194 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. the specimen figured. It is the foot-board, so common in all the Al- gonkin and Iroquois specimens. The pillow is to be noticed especially, consisting of soft furs and rags rolled up in soft buckskin and fastened — to the board. The awning frame is a wide bow of thin, hard wood, | over which falls a wide, long vail or flap of buckskin. This cradle-was collected by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. Army, who kindly made some investigations relative to the use and effect of the Navajo cradle. Fig. 28. APACHE CRADLE. FRONT AND BACK VIEW. (Cat. No. 21523, U. S. N. M. Arizona Territory. Collected by Dr. J. B. White, U. S. A.) Of some two or three dozen children of all ages from the infant up- wards that I have examined I have yet to find a case wherein the Navajo mother has not taken the special precaution to place a soft and ample pad in the cradle to protect the back of the child’s head. Moreover, Ihave yet to.see a case, except for a few days or more in the very youngest of babies, where the head is strapped at all. On the other hand, this part of the body is allowed all possible freedom. I am here enabled to present a picture, which shows exactly the method employed | by these squaws in both carrying and strapping their babies in the cradle (Fig. 33.) It will at once be observed that the head of the child is perfectly free, and that it has been supplied with a thick and soft pillow at the back A ey - CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 195 of it, whereas the body and limbs have been strapped up almost to the last degree. This child has light, thin hair, through which the general form of the skull could be easily examined, but after the most careful measurements I failed to detect any flattening of the occipital region of the head. In examining the full-blooded infants of different ages of this tribe of Indians I occasionally found one wherein I thought I could satisfactorily determine that the back of its head was unduly flattened, but it was by no means always the case. Another thing must be remembered, and this is that these Navajo women do not always keep their infants thus strapped up in their cradles, and this fact goes to sustain the proposition that whatever pressure is brought to bear against the back of their heads, it is not a constant one. i We often see here the little Navajo babies playing about for hours together.at a time when they are scarcely able to walk. Among older children I have satisfied my- She BU self—as well as I could through their mat- “74%” WoMAN CARRYING cup. ted hair—that the hinder region of their oe ai heads was flattened, but it never seemed to equal that of the Navajo girl, which I have illustrated in the October number of the Journal of Anatomy. There can be, I think, no question but that Prof. Sir William Turner is correct in regard to its being not only a distortion but due to pressure, though it would appear from the examinations which I have been able to make that at some time or other the strapping must have been very differently applied. To produce posterior flattening of the skull alone the pressure must be applied only upon that side, and to do this, in order to produce anything like the extraordinarily distorted skull that I have figured in my second paper on this subject, the child would have to have its head against a hard board for a long time and con- tinually kept there. If it were strapped it must be quite obvious that a certain amount of frontal flattening would also be produced, but I have never discovered such a distortion in any of the Navajo skulls. Now, so far as I have seen, they do not treat their children in this way, but, as I have said, always give them a soft pillow and leave the head free. Perhaps in former times the strapping of their babies in these cradles was very different from the methods now employed among this tribe, and again, the question of heredity may possibly enter into the subject, 196 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ! or more extended observations may prove that this flattening of the skull only occurs in a certain proportion of the representatives of this race, and not in every individual. A's Yi Ng XN wz Wi fa tybse ) a) rae ea | pec ! ae hae he Fig. 30. APACHE MOTHER NURSING CHILD. (From photograph. ) Dr. k, W. Shufeldt, U. S. Army, sent to Prof. Sir William Turner, of Edinburgh, a Navajo skull, which is described in the Journal of Anat- omy and Physiology, vol. xx, p. 430, as follows: The skull presented a well-marked parieto-occipital flattening, obviously due to artificial press- ure, which had been applied so as to cause the suprasquamous part of the occipital bone and the posterior three-fourths of the parietal to slope upwards and forwards. The frontal region did not exhibit any flatten- ing, so that in this individual, and it may be in his tribe of Indians, the pressure applied in infancy was apparently limited to the back of the bead. Owing to this artificial distortion the longitudinal diameter of the head was diminished, and the cephalic index 94.6, computed from Dr, Shufeldt’s measurements of the length and breadth, was therefore higher than it would have been in an undeformed skull, The cranium was hyperbrachycephalic, CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 197 The height of the skull was also very considerable and reached, as may be seen from the table, 115 millimeters; the vertical index was 89, so that the skull was hyperacrocephalic. In all probability the pressure during infancy, which shortened the skull in its antero-posterior direc- tion, forced the vertex upwards and added to the height of the cranium, so that the high vertical index was occasioned both by diminished length and increased height. The skull was cryptozygous, for not only was the breadth in the parietal region great, but the stephanic diameter was 137 millimeters. The glabella was not very prominent, but the su- Fig. 31. APACHE MOTHER WITH CHILDREN. (From photograph. ) praciliary ridges were thick and strong. The bridge of the nose was concave forward, so that the tip projected to the front. The basi-nasal diameter was 105 millimeters ; the basi-alveolar 98 millimeters, the gna- thic index was 93, and the skull was orthognathic. The nasal spine of the superior maxilla was moderate. Where the side walls of the an- terior nares joined the floor the margin of the opening was rounded. The transverse diameter of the orbit was 40 millimeters, the vertical di- ameter 36, the orbital index was 90, and the orbit was megaseme. The 198 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. nasal was 48 millimeters, the nasal width 25, the nasal index was 52, and the nose was mesorhine. The palato-maxillary length was 56, the palato-maxillary width was 72 millimeters; the palato-maxillary in- dex was 128, and the roof of the mouth was brachyuranic. The teeth were all erupted and not worn. The cranial sutures were all unossified. Fig. 32. Fig. 33. NavaJO CRADLE: FULL-RIGGED. OF NAVAJO CRADLE, WITH WOODEN HOOD AND THE POORER SORT. AWNING OF DRESSED BUCKSKIN. From Arizona. Cat. No. 127615, U S. N. M. Fort Wingate, New Mexico Collected by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U.S. A.) The parieto-sphenoid suture in the pterion was 19 millimeters in antero- posterior diameter. There were no Wormian bones. The anterior end of the inferior turbinated bone was almost in the same plane as the an- terior nares. The Comanche cradle (6970) is the most primitive cradle in the Na- tional Museum (Fig. 34). It is a strip of black bear-skin 30 inches long and 20 wide, doubled together in form of a cradle-frame. Along the side edges loops of buckskin are made to receive the lacing. The loops are formed as follows: A buckskin string is passed through a hole in the bear-skin and the longer end passed through a slit or cut in the shorter end. The long end is then passed through the next hole and drawn until a loop of sufficient size is left; a slit is made in the string near the last hole passed through, and then the whole lashing is drawn oy i ee 7a) o> ee ee 5 : : : CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 199 through this shit. This serves the purpose of a knot at each hole, as in many other cradles. A foot-piece of bear-skin is sewed in with coarse leather string.* Governor Stevens (Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854) says the Blackfeet women earry their children in their arms or in a robe behind their backs. When traveling, the children are placed in sacks of skin on the tent poles. I saw no cradle of any form. We have in this mention a par- allel to the Comanche type. Note also the use of stiff rawhide as a sub- stitute or antecedent of boards to secure stiffness. The subject will come up again in speaking of the Sioux and other Eastern cradles. Fig. 34. Fig. 35. COMANCHE CRADLE OF THE RUDEST BLACKFEET CRADLE, MADE QF LAT- SORT, MADE OF A STIFF PIECE OF TICE-WORK AND LEATHER. LOLS BES SSN (Cat. No. 6918, U.S. N.M. Texas. Collected by (Cat. No. 6970, U. S.N. M. Texas. Collected by PEN VIR EE Edward Palmer. ) The frame illustrated by Fig. 55 belongs to the latticed type, and is thus constructed: Two strips of narrow board, ofteu native hewn, wider and further apart at the upper end, are held in place by cross-pieces lashed and apart just the length of the leather cradle sheath. This lashing is very ingeniously done; four holes an inch apart are bored through the frame board and cross-piece at the corners of a square, a String of buckskin is passed backward and forward from hole to hole *Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1873, vol. 1): As soon asa Comanche child is born “ it is fastened to a small board by bandages, and so carried for several months on the back of the mother. Later the child rides on the mother’s hip, or is carried on her back in a basket or blanket” (pp. 513, 514). 200 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 18387. and the two ends tied, or one end is passed through a slit cut in the other. The lashing does not cross the square on either side diagonally. Above the upper cross-piece the frame pieces project a foot and are straightened atop like fence pickets. Disks of German silver and brass-headed nails are used in profusion to form various geometric ornaments; upon the front of the frame, between the cross-pieces, a strip of buffalo hide is sewn, with rawhide string passing through holes bored in with the hair side (the side pieces) towards the cradle-bed. The inclosing case is a shoe-shaped bag made of a single piece of soft deer-skin lashed together half way on top in the usual manner, and kept open around the face by a stiffening of buffalo leather or raw- hide. A small opening is left opposite the penis, and a stiffening piece keeps the bag open at the feet. This case is attached to the frame by thong lashings. Little sleigh bells, bits of leather, feathers, etc., com- plete the ornamentation (Fig. 30). Fig. 36. Fig. 36a. OGLALLA Sioux CRADLE. OGLALLA SIOUX WOMAN. Similar to Fig. 35, with addition of beading. (From photograph. ) (Cat. No. 75472. Black Hills, Dakota. ) The Sioux cradle is a frame of two diverging slats, painted yellow, held in place at the head and foot by cross-slats, lashed as in the Co- manche cradle, with this difference, that the string crosses between the holes diagonally. This is true, but may have no significance. The tops of the side pieces project above the cradle sack at least 18 inches, and ine in fi a CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 201 are studded with brass-headed nails in straight lines (Figs. 36, 36 a). As in the Comanche cradle there is a bottom or mattrass, and a quilt of calico, lined, supplants the buffalo hide. The baby-case is shoe- shaped, the part around the head and shoulders stiffened with a lining of buffalo leather. All over the outside of the baby-case bead-work is laid on in geometric patterns of blue, red, yellow, green, and blue-black on a white ground. ‘The beads are strung on a fine sinew-thread in proper number and color to extend quite across the case. This string is then tacked down at intervals of three-fourths of an inch so regularly — as to form continuous creased lines, extending from the foot longitudi- nally around the baby-case to the foot on the other side. Streamers of colored tape and ribbon take the place of old-fashioned strings, fur, and feathers. The edges of the lower half of the case are joined by four strings tied separately, instead of the universal lashing. There are about this cradle several marks of modification by.contact with whites, which show at the same time the tenacity with which old forms remain and the readiness with which they yield to pressure at the points of least resistance, indicating also where the points of least resistance are. Another specimen of Sioux cradle has the back-board square at top, carved and painted, barrow-shaped, like last, awning-frame bent and painted, covering-cloth decorated with beads. Itis tacked around edge of side board, brought up and Jaced in the middle like a shoe. Model of doll with iron necklace. Length, 282 inches; width, 13 inches. Back-board carved on front above; back-brace has large rounded ends; foot-rest low, curved around at bottom; cradle covered over with quill- work in red, white, and black; pattern, lozenges, men, horses, etc.; dec- orated with iron bells; opening across cradle-cover in middle. (Fig. 37.) Mr. Catlin thus describes the Sioux cradle, from a specimen in his collection, and the early life of the Sioux infant: ‘‘The back-board is wide; wedge-shaped opening made by cutting piece out of top; top is _ _ painted and decorated with beads; cradle has bent-wood sides, which make it like a barrow; the head-pad is over the lower part of the wedge- opening; ash awning-frame. The ends of this are fastened to a rod going across the back, by a device, which may be called an ear-mortise. It is held down over rod by an iron dog fastened to side of cradle. Cradle, 294 inches long, 12 inches wide; length of side board, 23 inches; height, 44 inches; height of awning-frame, 144 inches; width, 164 inches. “The custom of carrying the child, among the Mississippi Sioux, is not peculiar to this tribe, but belongs alike to all, as far as I have yet visited them, and alsoas far as I have been able to learn from travelers who have been amongst tribes that I have not yet seen. The child, in its earliest infancy, has its back lashed to a straight board, being fastened to it by bandages, which pass around it in front, and on the back of the board they are tightened to the necessary degree by lacing-strings, which hold it in a straight and healthy position, with its feet resting ona broad hoop, which passes around the foot of the cradle, and the child’s ” 202 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. position (as it rides on its mother’s back, supported by a broad strap that passes across her forehead), that of standing erect, which, no doubt, has a tendency to produce straight limbs, sound lungs, and long life. “In plate 232, letter d, is a cor- rect drawing of a Sioux cradle, which is in my collection, and was purchased from a Sioux wo- man’s back, as she was carrying her infant in it, as is seen in let- - ter e of the same plate. ‘““In this instance, as is often the case, the bandages that pass around the cradle, holding the child in, are all the way covered with a beautiful embroidery of porcupine quills, with ingenious figures of horses, men, ete. A broad hoop of elastic wood passes around in front of the child’s face to protect it in case of a fall, from the front of which is suspended a little toy of exquisite embroidery for the child to handle and amuse itself with. To this and other lit- tle trinkets hanging in front of (Cat. No. 73311, U..S. N. M. Missouri River. Collected by it there ale attached sesakyy little oor ona tinseled and tinkling things of the brightest colors to amuse both the eyes and the ears of the child. While traveling on horseback the arms of the child are fastened under the bandages, so as not to be endangered if the cradle falls, and when at rest they are generally taken out, allowing the infant to reach and amuse itself with the little toys and trinkets that are placed before it and within its reach. ‘The infant is carried in this manner until it is five, six, or seven months old, after which it is carried on the back in the manner repre- sented in two of the figures of the same plate, and held within the folds of the robe or blanket. “The modes of carrying the infant when riding are also here shown, and the manner in which the women ride, which, amongst all the tribes, is astride, in the same manner as that practiced by the men. “Letter b, in the same plate, is a mourning cradle, and opens to the view of the reader another very curious and interesting custom. If the infant dies during the time that is allotted to it to be carried in this cradle, it is buried, and the disconsolate mother fills the cradle Fig. 37. SIOUX CRADLE. ee i. é we = hn ee as eS ee ee CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 203 with black quills and feathers in the parts which the child’s body had occupied, and in this way carries it around with her wherever she goes, for a year or more, with as much care as if her infant were alive and in it, and she often lays or stands it leaning against the side of the wig- wam, where she is all day engaged in her needlework, and chatting and talking to it as familiarly and affectionately as if it were her loved infant, instead of.its shell, that she was talking to. So lasting and so strong is the affection of these women for the lost child that it mat- ters not how heavy or cruel their load or how rugged the route they have to pass over, they will faithfully carry this, and carefully, from day to day, and even more strictly perform their duties to it than if the child were alive and in it. “Tn the little toy that I have mentioned, and which is suspended be- fore the chiid’s face, is carefully and superstitiously preserved the um- bilicus, which is always secured at the time of its birth, and, being rolled up into a little wad of the size of a pea and dried, it is inclosed in the center of this little bag and placed before the child’s face, as its protector and its security for “‘ good luck” and long life. “Letter c, same plate, exhibits a number of forms and different tastes of these little toys, which I have purchased from the women, which they were very willing to sell for a trifling present; but in every instance they cut them open and removed from within a bunch of cotton or moss, the little sacred medicine, which to part with would be to endanger the health of the child, a thing that no consideration would have induced them in any instance to have done.”* (Pages 130-132, vol. 11, Catlin’s Hight Years). * Long, Maj. 8. H. (Expedition to the Sources of the St. Peter’s River. Philadelphia. 1824. 8vo.) Among the Pottawatomie great care is taken that the body shall be straight and well formed; no attempt * * * is made te change the shape of the head, ‘‘this being regarded as having a tribal significance” (vol. 1, p. 100). On the Cottonwood River, Long saw an old Pottawatomie chief with “a child-board on his back, in which he carried his little grandson” (vol. 1, p. 178). The child was naked (p. 179). Of the Dacotah, Long or Keating, who compiled and edited his notes, says: “The practice of shaping the heads of infants is unknown to them” (vol. I, p. 404). Charlevoix, Pérede. (Journal of a Voyage to North America. London. 1761. 8vo.) The Tétes de Boule (Roundheads), an Algonquin tribe north of Montreal, ‘‘ have their name from the roundness of their heads; they think there is a great beauty in this figure, and it is very probable the mothers give it to their children while in the cradle” (vol. 1, Letter x1, p. 285). Speaking of the fine figures of the “Indians of Canada,” Charlevoix says that one reason for this is, that ‘‘ their bodies are not con- strained in the cradle” (vol. 11, Letter xx1, p. 79). Just after (p. 120) he describes the ornamentation of ‘‘ their children’s cradles” among the Hurons. Lahontan, Baron. (New Voyagesto North America. London. 1735,2ded. 8vo.) These observations were made upon the Algonkian and Iroquoian tribes of the St. Lawrence and the Lakes in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Like Hearne, he says: ‘‘ There is no such thing as a cradle among the savages” (vol. I, p. 7); but _ he adds that ‘‘the mothers make use of certain little boards, stuffed with cotton, upon 204 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. East of the Mississippi River, north of the Tennessee and the North Carolina line, and south of Hudson Bay lived Algonkin and Iroquois stocks, and all of them used a flat cradle-board, not far from 24 feet long, 10 inches- wide, and one-half inch thick, tapering wider at the head. The St. Regis Iroquois, in the north of New York and near the Canada line, have for many years bought their cradle-boards from the whites or made them of material bought from a white man (Figs. 39, 40). The specimen illustrated has the back carved in flowers and birds, and painted blue, red, green, and yellow. The cleat at the upper end of the back is a modern chair-round. The foot-board is a small shelf or bracket. on which the child’s feet rest. An interesting relic of sav: gery on this quite civilized cradle are the notches in the awning-bow, falling down over the ends of the cleat, extended and held in place by braces of leather thong. The hoop serves many functions, such as sup- port for sunshade, rain protector, mos- quito net, ornaments, dangling trinkets to please the child, ete. 18306. Cradle back-board, carved in peacocks, and painted bright colors. Square at top. Awning frame mortised at ends, which allow them to slide over awning-bar. Held down and guyed by (Cat. No. 18006, U.S. N. M. St. Regis, New York. stays on opp osite side. Has a movable i aa eo foot-rest at bottom. Thongs along sides for lashing baby in. Length, 294 inches; width, top, 104 inches; bot- tom, 8i inches. Foot-rest, height, 34 inches; width, 6inches. (Fig. 38.) The following notes regarding the Indians east of the Mississippi River have been collected in the course of the author’s reading, and are here appended to throw additional light upon the subject: Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas. London, 1807. 4to.) ‘‘ The use of a pillow is known to but a few” among the Iroquois tribes. Having seen that article in use, they imitate it ‘‘ with a billet of wood, with a mat rolled up, or with skins stuffed with hair (p. 237). which the children lie as if their backs were glued to them, being swaddled in linnen and kept on with swath bandsrun through the sides of the boards. To these boards they tie strings, by which they hang their children on the branches of trees” (vol. 11, p- 7). ‘As soon as their children come into the world they dip them in warm water up to the chin.” The Dacotahs, Aleutian Islanders, elc., use cold water. ‘‘After this they swathe them down upon little boards or planks, stuffed with cotton, where they lie upon their backs” (vol. 1, p. 43). : TROQUOIS CRADLE. BACK VIEW. CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 205 Jefferys, T. (Nat. and Civil Hist. of French Dominions in North and South Amer- ica, London, 1760, fol.), says of Algonkian Tétes de Boul: ‘‘The Round-Heads * * * take their name from the figure of their heads. * * * It is believed that the mothers * * * form the heads of the children into this shape when they are in the cradle ” (part 1, p. 47). Liancourt, Dukede. (Travels through the United States, ete. London, 1799. 4to.) Very much the same account as that of Weld, ete., is given by this traveler of the eradle-board used by the Iroquois tribes. He says, however, that ‘‘suckling children are generally suspended in a basket fastened to the ceiling” (vol. I, p. 177). Weld, I. (Travels through North America and Canada. London. 1799. 4to.) As the result of general observation of the tribes of Canada and the Lakes, he says that “an Indian child, soon after it is born, is swathed with cloths or skins (vide Long, Notes), laid on its back, and bound down on a piece of thick board, spread with soft moss.” Hoops protect the face. The cradle-board is suspended on the mother’s back when traveling, otherwise hung by the head-strap. Infants are also pujin hammocks, and when able to craw! are released from the cradle-board (p. 387). «Their infants are borne with haire on their heads, and are of com- plexion white as our nation, but their mothers in their infancy make a bath of Walnut leaves, huskes of Walnuts and such things as will stain their skinne for ever, wherein they did & washe them to make them tawny. The coloure of their haire is black & their eyes black.” NotTe.—tThe idea that the Indian was born white was very commonly entertained in the first half of the seventeenth century. Lechford, in his « Plaine Dealing,” p. 50, says: *‘ They areof complexion swarthy & tawny. Their children are borne white, but they bedaube them with oyle & colours presently.” Josselyn also speaks of the Indians “dying their children with a liquor of boiled Hemlock-Bark.” (Two Voyages, p.128.) Speaking of the Virginia women Smith says: “To make their children hardie in the coldest mornings they them wash in the rivers, & by paynting & oyntments so tanne their skinnes that after a year or two no weather will hurtthem.” (True, Travels, vol.I,p.131.) Strachey gives amore par. ticular account of the supposed process: “The Indians are generally of a cullour browne or rather tawny, which they cast themselves into with a kind of arsenic stone, & of the same hue are their women, how- beit yt is supposed neither of them naturally borne so discolored ; for Capt. Smith (lyving somtymes amongst them) affirmeth how they are from the womb indifferent white, but as the men, so doe the women dye & disguise themselves into this tawny cowler, esteeming yt the best beauty to be neerest such a kynd of murrey as a sodden quince is of _(to liken yt to the neerest coulor I can), for which they daily anoint both face & bodyes all over with such a kind of fucus or unguent as ean east them intothatstayne.” (Historie,63.) (‘‘New English Canaan.” Prince Soe. Boston, 1883, p. 147.) “These infants are carried at their mothers’ backs by the help of a cradle made of a board forket at both ends whereon the childe is fast bound and wrapped in furres; his knees thrust up towards his bellie, because they may be the more usefull for them when he sitteth, which is as a dogge does on his bumme; and this cradle surely preserves them 206 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. better than the cradles of our nation, for as much as we find them well proportioned, not any of them crooked-backed or wry-legged; and to give their charracter in a worde, they are as proper meu and women for feature and limbs as can be found, for flesh and blood as active.” (“ New English Canaan.” Prince Soc. Boston, 1883, p. 147.) The Choktah flatten their foreheads with a bag of sand, which with great care they keep fastened on the skull of the infant while it is in its tender and imperfect state. Thus they quite deform their face and give themselves an appearance which is disagreeable to any but those of their own likeness.* (Adair’s American Indians, p. 284.) “The Indians flatten their heads in divers forms, but it is chiefly the crown of the head they depress in order to beautify themselves, as their wild fancy terms it, for they call us long heads by way of contempt. The Choktah Indians flatten their foreheads trom the top of the head to the eye-brows with a small bag of sand, which gives them a hideous — appearance, as the forehead naturally shoots upward, according as it is flattened, thus, the rising of the nose, instead of being equidistant from the beginning of the chin to that of the hair is, by their wild mechanism, placed a great deal nearer to the one and farther from the other. The Indian nations round South Carolina and all the way to New Mexico (properly called Mechiko), to effect this, fix the tender infant on a kind of cradle, where his feet are tilted above a foot higher than a horizontal position, his head bends back into a hole made on purpose to receive it, where he bears the chief part of- his weight on the crown of the head upon a small bag of sand, without being in the least able to move himself. The skull, resembling a fine cartilaginous substance, in its infant state, is capable of taking any impression. By this pressure, and their thus flattening the crown of the head, they consequently make their heads thick and their faces broad, for when the smooth channel of *Volney, C. F. (A View of the Soil and Climate of the United States of America. Philadelphia, 1804. 8 vo.) It is “the custom of the Choctaws to mould the skull of their new-born children to the shape of a truncated pyramid, by pressing them be- tween boards. This method is so effectual that the tribe is known by the name of the Flat-Heads” (p. 365). Among the tribes near the head of the Wabash, ‘‘ Weeaws, Payories, Sawkies, Pyankishaws, and Miamis, * * * thefemales * * * carry one or two children behind them in a sort of bag, the ends of which are tied upon their forehead. In this respect they have a strong resemblance to our [the French] gypsies” (p. 353). Bartram, William. (Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, ete. London, 1794. 2ded., 8vo.) ‘*The Choctaws are called by the traders Flats or Flat-Heads, all the males having the fore and hind parts of their skulls artificially flattened or compressed” (p. 515). The infant is placed ‘‘in a wooden case,” on its back, ‘‘a bag of sand being laid on the forehead, which, by continual gentle compres- sion,” causes the head toslope ‘‘off backwards * * * fron: the temples upwards.” The occiput is received in a concavity ‘‘ fashioned like a brick-mould” (p. 515). Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas. London, 1807. 4to.) ‘‘Some of the tribes of Louisiana flatten the forehead of their children, and cause the summit to terminate ina point. *~ * * Beauty, in their conception, consists in moulding the head to a round form” (p. 348). CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 207 nature is.stopped in one place, if a destruction of the whole system doth not thereby ensue, it breaks out in a proportional redundancy in another. May we not to this custom, and as a necessary etfect of this cause, attribute their fickle, wild, and cruel tempers? Especially, when we connect therewith both a false education and great exercise to agitate their animal spirits. When the brain, in covier people, is disturbed, it neither reasons nor determines with proper judgment. The Indians thus look on everything around them through their own false medium, and vilify our heads because they have given a wrong turn to their own.” (Adair’s American Indians, p. 8.) Lafitau* speaks as follows concerning tke Southern Indian cradle: ‘‘The cradle for the savage children in New France is made through- out pretty and roomy. It consists of one or two very thin planks of light wood, 24 feet long, ornamented on the edges and rounded at the foot, to give convenience of cradling. ‘The child enveloped in fine fur is as though glued to the united planks, and is placed standing up in a way that it shall hang over a little ledge of wood where its feet are, the point turned under for fear lest they should get hurt, and in order that it should hold the fold by which it is necessary to carry the frame. The swaddling-clothes or furs are held up in front by large bands of painted skin, which does not stretch much, and which are passed and repassed in the small loops of tough skin which hang from the sides of the cradle, where they are firmly fastened. They let these swaddling- clothes hang considerably below the cradle, and they throw them be- hind when they wish to go walking with the child, or let them fall over a half circle, which is fastened to the planks near the head of the child, and which can be made to turn forwards in order that the child em breathe freely without being exposed to the cold of winter or to the stings of mosquitos or gnats in summer, and in order that it} should not receive ‘injury if the cradle fell. They put over that half circle little bracelets of porcelain and other little trifles that the Latins call crepundia, which serve aS an ornament and as playthings to divert the child. Two large lengths of strong leather, which come out from the cradle at the head, enable the mother to carry it everywhere with her, and to fasten below all their other bundles, when they go to the fields, and to suspend to some branch of a tree, where cradled and soothed to sleep by the wind, while she works. ‘The children are very warm in the cradle and very easy, for besides the furs, which are very soft, they put much down taken from the cala- mus (cat-tail, rush ?), which they stuff in a wad, or perhaps the pounded bark of the peruche (birch?), with which the women scour their hair to invigorate it. They are also very careful so that it can not soil their furs; by means of a little skin or a rag which they pass between their thighs, which hangs out over the fore part, they can attend to their *Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, vol. I, p. 597, 208 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. natural needs without the inside being wet or soiled, except the down, which is easily replaced with new. “Some nations in Louisiana, to whom the French have given the name of flat heads, * * * havea groove practically in their cradle, in which the mother puts the child’s head ; she applies on the front and . ‘back of the head a mass of clay which binds and bears down with all force. She cradles the child all the time until its head has taken its shape, and when the sutures of the head have taken consistency. The children suffer extremely, become almost black; a white and viscous liquor comes from the eyes, nose, and ears; they suffer much more from the uneasy situation, where they are forced to pass all the time during the first months of their infancy, but it is the cost of becoming beauti- ful by art and the suffering to get that charm which nature refuses. “The Caribs and most of the Southern Indians have also flattened foreheads and pointed heads. Their mothers fasten the head down with little boards and pads of cotton bound stron. ‘°*°! of the head. “The child has no other cradle but a hammock proportioneu vo their height in which the mothers can suspend them and transport them very commodiously, and where the children are cradled all naked, without any pain from confinement. ‘‘ The Indians, which are called in Canada (le gens de Terres) Garha- gonronnon, have a different taste from the Flatheads, for their beauty consists in having a round head; thence they are called ‘ Bullet Heads ’” (pp. 593, 597). “ The first years the child is kept all naked in the cabin to keep its body from being injured by the air. When larger it works for the family. They carry water and little billets of wood; this they regard as sport. Up to puberty they neglect their person; no ornaments are worn until they are enrolled in the body of young men. They are edu- cated like Spartans ” (p. 597). ‘¢ Women strong and robust but are not prolific. The encemnte woman does not take care of herself; she carries heavy burdens and works harder as she approaches her time. They say this violent exercise facilitates their parturition and makes the child more robust.- No one can deny that they do bring forth with surprising ease. If caught in labor away from the cabin they attend to themselves, and are appar- ently able to do their regular work the same day” (pp. 590, 591). ‘‘They do suffer and die sometimes, but they bear their pain with such fortitude that they do not seem to suffer” (p. 592). ‘‘Some Southern Indians think if the women do not bear their pain with fortitude the children will inherit their weakness, and they kill those children that are born of such a mother. They kill the mother of a still-born child, and also sacrifice one of twins, because one mother is not enough for two children” (p. 592). “The Indians will not give their children to others to bring up. If it happens that the mother dies while the child is yet in the cradle, it a C2 [eee ee ee ee CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 209 is brought up in the family, and what appears strange, old grandmoth- ers, who have passed the age of having children, have their milk return to them, and take the place of the mother. Indians love their children with an extreme passion, and although they do not show their affection by lively caresses, as do the Europeans, their tenderness is, however, not less real. They suckle their children as long as they are able, and do not wean them but from necessity. I have seen children three or four years old taking milk with their younger brothers” (p. 593). In South America the same custom seems to obtain that we have seen in North America, namely, in the tropics the carrying of children in the shawl or sash, and bedding it in the hammock; while in the colder regions the cradle-frame appears. Frames corresponding to some in North America are found in Peru. Simon de Schryver, in his Royaume d’Araucanie-Patagonie (1887), figures at page 21 an Araucanian woman carrying a child in a frame (Fig. 39), which seems to be nothing more atts Letaitof bag. Fig. 39. ARAUCANIAN WOMAN CARRYING CHILD. (From Simon de Schryver’s “Royaume d’Araucanie-Patagonie.”) than a short ladder, with cross-bars. On this frame the child is lashed, the head being perfectly free, except that the lower part of the occiput rests against the top cross-bar, as in the case of the Polynesian pillow. In addition to her living freight the woman carries in front a bag of H, Mis. 600, pt. 2——14 210 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. provisions suspended by a cord depending from the head-strap at its junction with the cradle-frame. RS SSS ‘ ss 7421 Ay i mi 5) £75) { ag Ny Wili//Aa f Mais SOON aust jj / ra) y / U [ 4 oY iy W Ba ay ? Y, \ y Ye, IWS ‘\ ie Zag PPB A RS Wiese ee SH at I NT OD y IN ARG SAE ZZ Fig. 40. TURKISH GYPSY CARRYING A CHILD IN PEDDLER’S PACK. (From photograph in U. S. N. M.) A feature in the weaving of the Patagonian wallet is worthy of at- tention, although its description would be better in a paper on weaving. There is in the National Museum a game-bag from Mackenzie River, and another from Kodiak, made of exceedingly fine babbiche or buck- skin cut into string. The weaving is effected by means of an endless chain of half-hitches, each loop caught into loop below. In Central America, everywhere, thousands of open net-work bags of all sizes are . aE ee a eh , 4 ~Pe CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 211 made from the pita fiber, the strings of which loop in the same man- ner. In Peru the same stitch occurs, and now from Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego we receive examples of the same method of weaving. il Mong = eg, Fig. 41. OsTJAK ‘‘ BABY-J UMPER.”’ » (From Seebohm’s ‘Siberia in Asia.’’) The insertion of a rod or a bundle of rushes serves to convert the op net-work bag into a water-tight wallet or a rigid basket. Ce ae Fig. 42. OstTsJAK CRADLE. (From Seebohm’s “ Siberia in Asia.’’) en DAD REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Another method of carrying children is shown in Fig. 40. The wo. Vig. 43. APACHE SQUAW CARRYING a CHILD. (From photograph in U.S, N, M.) Fig. 44. JAPANESE WOMAN CARRYING A CHILD. AFRICAN WOMAN CARRYING A CHILD, (From photograph in U, 8. N. M.) (From Racinet’s “ Le Costume,’’) man the rerepresented is a Turkish Gypsy, and the child has been placed in a ped- dler’s pack for convenience of earrying. The resources of the Museum do not justify anything like an exhaustive treat- meut of the eastern continent. In the three figures shown (Figs. 43, 44, 45) we see the Northern device, in which the safety of the child from cold is the main source of anxiety. The Japanese mother is concerned partly with temperature and partly with transportation. The African mother consults transportation alone. There is nothing in the ordinary treat- ment of the child to occasion a deformity of the cranium. Any change of the shape of the head must be attributed to congen- ital causes or to custom. ’ ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. Die NOTES ON THE ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN AMONG SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED PEOPLES. [WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY. | By Dr. J. H. Porrer. The accompanying notes are collected from various sources aS a sup- plement to Professor Mason’s paper on ‘“‘ The Cradles of the American Aborigines.”* The time allotted did not permit the compiler to exhaust the subject, but enough is here given to show the practices concerning children in their first year throughout the world, and the varied beliefs obtaining as to the effects of such treatment. Inthe future the subject will receive more careful and systematic study, The author embraces this opportunity to express his obligation to the librarians of the State, War, and Navy Departments at Washing- ton for many courtesies. Intentional modifications of the form of the head, although less gen- eral than other fashions by which conformity to an ideal of beauty has been attemped, have, nevertheless, been widely prevalent among races of men, but can not be said to include all the variations from an average cranial type actually existing in nature. The ethnical classification of M. Topinard (Eléments d’Anthropologie Générale) displays deforma- tion with reference to race in a manner which fulfills all practical requirements. Deformity is, however, as real when slight as when excessive, and apart from those distortions he has described, from the many which are due to pathological causes, and the yet more numerous deviations from symmetry which unintentionally exerted pressure pro- duces in the incompletely ossified skull, there still remain those varia- tions in the processes of nutrition and growth through which assymetry becomes the rule not in the head and notin man only, but in the homol- ogous parts of all axially developed animals. As a matter of fact, and exclusive of the embryological identity of their elements, an ideal head is no more demonstrable than an ideal vertebra; and whatever may be hereafter accomplished, at present the anatomical and physiological constants of neither can be determined in detail. it therefore appears to be inexact to speak of the deformities of an organ whose conformation has not been distinctly ascertained. ~In addition to this, only a small portion of mankind have arrived at any common judgment on the subject of cranial contour, and wherever a standard is furnished by such a consensus of opinion, this is derived from art and not from science. Both empirical knowledge and physio- logical principles justify the general conclusion that the artistic form is that which is usually associated with superior brain power; but it does not at all follow that an alteration of outline that would destroy the former would similarly affect the latter. Such facts undoubtedly dis- * Most of the bigliography relating to the artificial deformation of children in North America is embodied in Professor Mason’s work. 214 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. parage alike the methods and the resuJts of anthropological research in certain directions, but they neither obviate the necessity of initiating further study from existing information, nor impugn its value as a whole. In considering the natural history of the human head, account must be taken of the fact that man, while not alone in this respect, is never- theless an execeding!ly aberrant form among the Mammalia. On any theory of life, however, except that of special creation, and independ- ently of conflicting estimates of the systematic implications of structure, the organization of this most highly specialized being must be regarded as the outcome of descent, with modification, and should therefore be considered in connection with that of the groups to which man is affil- lated. As has been said, there is no absolute form for the head or for the vertebree of which it is composed, and the fact that all classifications resting upon its features have failed, does not encourage the hope that the results sought through craniometry will be attained by means of its descriptive anatomy. All that can be properly affirmed is, that during the immemorial series of adjustments by which the mammals culmi- nated in man, and in which evolutional changes of all orders are in- cluded, the human head assumed an incompletely distinctive form, which is, both in itself and in the causes which determine its variations, more. or less clearly revealed in the tribal history of mankind. The state- ment that the anthropoid head becomes less human with development has been generally united with the assumption that this implies im- portant generic differences between them, and if the observation were true in the sense in which it is for the most part understood, it would. do so. Its special significance is, however, detracted frem by the gen- eral truth that in zoology the rule is that, for obvious reasons, young creatures are less differentiated than those which are mature; while, on the other hand, the difficulty of discriminating between the adult brains of some of the higher apes and those of certain savages, may be considered as qualifying the former assertion to so great a degree as to suggest error, or at least inexactness, in the observation. No doubt the mistake is partially attributable to misconceptions arising from an idea of the fixity of species, but in itself, the error is involved in all comparisons between unlike things. To found a parallel upon the ex- ternal tables of the skull, as if these were equally characteristic and similarly developed in a gorilla and a man, is to include in the terms dissimilar elements, and thereby vitiate the comparison. The contours of the head in these instances are differently related, and, considering the plates of the skull especially, the external table of the ape’s cra- nium is much more prominently associated with the muscular appar- atus than is the case with man, in whom the subordination of the en- tire head to the encephalon is exceptional. This is but a single illus- tration of the general fact that throughout the vertebrate class the era- nium proper, amid innumerable subordinate variations, assumes the ON ee Pa ee . = Sots ht ae x Dl ~~ -s, ‘34 a \ ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN, vos ope more specialized character of a brain-case as we ascend in the organic scale. In fishes, where the head contains other organs than those of the nervous system, its indefinite relations to the cerebro-spinal axis are conspicuous. Among the Reptilia, though containing only the brain, the extreme disproportion between the head and its contents indicates that its conformity with the cerebral ganglia is subsidiary to other con- formities; while in birds the limited range of the cranial cavity, as contrasted with its range when compared with the bulk of the body, conveys in a modified form the implication of increasing specialization of the head. As might be expected, the anatomical evidence furnished ° by the Mammalia is corroborative of that derived from lower groups. No variation, however extreme, is competent to free a structure from the influence of heredity, and it might be argued a priori that the hu- man head would have the outlines of its history delineated in the mor- phology of the primates. The facts in this instance justify the anticipation. As in the develop- mental record of birds, among which the ornithic stamp, either general or special, is but gradually and indirectly evolved, so also with the more immediate congeners of man, where the more salient characteris- ties of his type, distributed throughout a group of authropoids, do not admit of consecutive arrangement, and can not be attributed in their totality to any specific form. From the primates, as from the. other mammalian sub-classes, a cranial figure involved in the metameric de- velopment of the encephalon, gradually disengages itself and becomes ’ more regular and more definite in its cerebral relations as the grade of organization is elevated; so that the profiles associated with ganglionic mass increase in prominence, while those which are otherwise associated correspondingly diminish. ‘These anatomical traits link themselves natnrally with physiological co-ordinates. Everywhere encephalic structure is related, though not directly, to function. Enhanced importance in the brain implicates in- creased solidarity in the entire organism. As the cerebral elements grow in multiplicity, variety, and complexity, this development is con- comitant with cranial amalgamation, with progressive obliteration of : - the features attaching to lower forms, with condensation of the ence- phalic ganglia, with a more direct correspondence between the skull and brain, and finally with a greater conformity of the bodywith the head. Whatever phylogenetic siguificance may be found in these facts, their morphological and physiological bearing is unmistakable. Through quite various structural gradations there appears, though not in linear sequence, ‘‘a series of forms,” which ultimately display in modifications of cranial contour a more definite coaptation of the envelope to its con- tained viscus in developmental progress, and in the falling away and weakening of its muscular attachments, the paramount function of the skull as a brain-case, and the subordination of its structure to that of the organ which it incloses. : PAG REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. It is not necessary here to consider the elements which compose or- ganic form or the conditions that determine their arraugement. The process, so far as the head is concerned, has been, to a great extent, masked among the vertebrates by adaptation to other than encephalic relations, while the part was carried through the cartilaginous, semi- osseous, unamalgamated, and consolidated types of crania, to one which, as representative of the most important organ in the body, has been commonly selected by the anthropologists for investigation, and generally believed to promise results corresponding with its position and the function it sustains. Tried by the tests afforded by craniometry, how- ever, it appears to have little or no taxinomical value, since the outcome of these measurements is to transpose races and fuse peoples otherwise known to be distinct. At the same time, in man, cranial outlines are unquestionably pre- ponderantly determined by the brain, while the features by which its action is obscured have been so frequently and completely described that they need not be recapitulated. But although this statement holds on the morphological side of the question, from the physiological stand- - point the case is not the same. The brain limits the shape of the head and is itself limited by the laws of growth, heredity, and structural correlativity; but in the phenomenal series cerebral development is antecedent to cranial evolution, and the relation subsisting between these—a relation which is in its nature causal, so far as shape is con- cerned—places the factors upon different planes. In virtue of prepon- derant function and equivalent preponderance of structure in special ganglia, a general form of head has been attained; but from fluctuations jn the energies by which it was produced in correspondence with varia- tions in the conditions of life, this form varies both in human and pre- human history, and so widely as to have thus far prevented classifi- cation. That the organ through which all adjustments to the environment are primarily made should vary among groups whose lowest aggregates are nearly as passive to the direct action of natural selection as beasts, and whose higher forms are but partially and incompletely adjusted, is not surprising; and while it must be assumed upon biological grounds . that the plasticity of the brain has lessened since its deviation from the ancestral type, whence issued in divergent lines that of man and his congeners, still, the facts of descent suggest that to its organic variability, and to that expressed in specific adaptations, there must be added a strong inherited tendency in this direction. The cerebral history of the primates seems to warrant the theoretical conclusion that among these great variability of the head exists. In Lemuridé, where the cranium relatively to the face is small, and ~ the ethmoidal, tentorial, and occipital planes are greatly inclined to- wards the basi-cranial axis, the brain scarcely exceeds the base of the skull in length, whereas in Simiadz the encephalon is more than twice as ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. ZAE long. The anterior cerebral lobes in the Arctopithecini compare in mass with those of anthropoids, while the posterior lobes are more developed than in certain races of men. Among the Platyrrhini great cranial va- riations correspond with extreme contrasts in brain structure and mass. The low facial angle, inclined tentorial plane, and perpendicularity of the axis of the occipital foramen to that of the cranial base, belong, as in Mycetes, to a type in which the cerebellum is scarcely covered, while in Chrysothrix the posterior lobes of the cerebrum are of relatively greater proportions than in any of the Mammalia; and, moreover, the vertex is arched, the facial angle large, the basi-cranial axis short, as compared with its cavity, and the planes of the occipital foramen and tentorium are in correspondence. The surface of the brain in Cebus is nearly as much convoluted as that of the catarrhine apes, but the sulci fade almost to obliteration through Pithecia, Chrysothrix, and Nictipithecus. On the other hand, by the nearly total structural mask- ing of the annectant gyri of the external perpendicular fissure, the brain in Ateles rises above the catarrhine type. Diversities such as these, occurring within the limits of a single group, put craniological classification out of the question; but in Catar- rhines and Anthropide differences obtain, which, though less extreme, are equally decisive, and without anatomical details, for which there is no space, it may be said that the heads and brains of Semnopitheci and Colobi vary from those of Macaci and Cynocephali as significantly as the same structures do in the man-like apes. Apparently, then, no typi- cal cranium exists among the simians any more than among men, from whom an artistic preconception has to a great extent concealed its absence. With regard to this standard of art, also, it must be remembered that it is primarily one of form, while, physiologically, form has no necessary _ connection with the constitution of a ganglion. Such expressions as “nervous are” and “reflex action” emphasize as if essential, that which, except contingently, has nothing to do with either curves or angles. In “the building of a brain” the terminal elements of nervous tracts are cellular, and agglomeration therefore results in the composition of a mass attached to a pedicle. Nothing which is generally more exact than this can be advanced. Components Jike these make up the parts and wholes of all nervous systems, and how they have combined in man and his class, and with what degree of uniformity, has already been indicated. Of course it is net meant that the human head has not an average shape, or that this or any other part whose conformation is due to ac- tions and reactions between an ancestral group and its entire environ- ment, could alter otherwise than infinitesimally under the incidence of discontinuous forces. Nor is it intended to say that the harmony which exists in other instances between an organ and its properties is here ignored. No more than in any other machine or structure can the skull be considered as unaffected by the laws which co-ordinate mechan- 218 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ical and functional fitness with functional and mechanical requirements. But resemblances of this kind are not those which are contemplated in anthropometry, where the relations of structure and function, and of these to the conditions of life, have been disregarded in a search for morphological constants, whose occurrence, under the circumstances, was biologically impossible. Much but not all has been done towards a science of man, when the divergent forms of his class have been united by forms that are intermediate, and when his pedigree has been reconstructed on the basis of kinship. The whole question of race is included in this generalization, although it is not thereby fully ex- plained, neither is it likely to be elucidated by measurements. Without pursuing the subject further it may be remarked that, ab- stractly, structure and function are determined in all organisms by the affinities of their units of composition; that complete homogeneity in a group of protoplasts is impossible, and that initial diversities will in- crease during evolution. The minuteness of these ultimates may not add to the difficulty of comprehension more than is the case with those dealt with by molecular physics and chemistry, but it is otherwise when the plasticity of life is added. That adaptation is connected with changes in function and structure is obvious, but neither in an organ- ism, an organ, nor in the pilastidules which compose them, is adaptation a final term in the progress from homogeneity to heterogeneity, from simplicity to complexity, from indefiniteness to definiteness ; since, with- out alteration of elementary composition, there are no conceivable cir- cumstances under which re-adjustment can be effected. As it is with these phenomena which lie at the foundation of life, so is it with all the vital phenomena to which natural and sexual selection, growth, survival, genesis, heredity apply. Amid all degrees of compo- sition and recomposition, function constitutes the substance, adapta- tion the form of life. Every statical or dynamical distribution of or- ganic energy by which incident forces are met is included in function ; and though in large groups of organisms, correlative changes, structural and functional, occur slowly and within comparatively narrow limits, yet they are, in the nature of things, relatively indefinite, but contin- gently permanent, and do not afford on this subject the data which sys- tematic ethnology requires. Not less than its co-ordinate, the evolution of form, does physiological development press for interpretation in every question relating to race, and the doctrine that all factors by which dif- fereuces among men are worked out are resolvable into results of the in- tercourse between these and the conditions under which they are placed, is essentially a corollary from the persistence of force. Space has permitted but the merest sketch of this subject, but there yet remains a question which sooner or later confronts the investigator of cranial deformities, and this is that of their transmission. Present opinion almost unanimously opposes the belief that these may, in any ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. 219 degree, be perpetuated when of artificial origin; nevertheless it may be maintained with reason that the grounds upon which unqualified de- nial rests, are theoretically as untenable, in the present state of anthro- pological science, as those upon which an unqualified assent could be founded. Future results in this direction will depend largely upon the possibility of connecting facts of observation with those furnished by the experimental physiology of the nervous system. The question is a biological one, and without adverting to what has been said concern- ing variation, it may be urged that in this, as in all such problems, the first necessity is to view them under biological conditions. This re- quirement has not in this instance been complied with. Teleological preconceptions seem to have been more or less obstructive of the view, and equally so, incorrect parallels between alterations apparently within the limits of health, and those which involve morbid consequences. There is no doubt that modifications of development involve functional modifications, and that imperceptible molecular changes in the brain rest on precisely the same basis as perceptible ones in other parts of the bedy. The inconceivability of spontaneous variation, properly so called, the heredity of function as well as of structure, the certainty that if structure changed by fanction is transmitted, any alterations of structure which have physiologically altered function must be also in- herited, appear to suggest an explanation of certain phenomena con- nected with this subject, which, except on the poncipis of descent, do not seem to be interpretable at all. According to the statements of Mr. Spencer, there is reason to think that special structures of all varieties proceed from the special polari- ties of their organic units, and that any tissue or combination of tis- sues will impress the modificatious it may have experienced upor its component elements, between which and the aggregate life implies perpetual action and reaction. If this process, as must be generally the case, takes place under normal conditions, the forces manifested tend towards equilibrium without reaching, practically, an exact physi- ological balance. During these adjustments and re-adjustments, how- ever, one of two alternative results inevitably occurs. Wither the structure will take the shape determined by the pre-existing tendencies of its elements, or the aggregate’s altered form will mould these into harmony with itself. The question thus becomes. one of affection of function, because, for every reason, it must be assumed that structural elements organically changed will, when acting as reproductive centers, _ engender similar changes. To oppose to these statements the common assertion that mutilations do not become congenital, is to misconceive their character, and to con- found pathological conditions with those which must be normal in order to be effective. It may readily be suspected that the impossibility of inheriting artificial alterations has been too hastily assumed, since this involves an additional assumption, which has not been demonstrated, 220 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ~ viz, that such changes do not become organic because they may occur without implicating function. The profound alterations effected by artificial selection are, of course, due to functional modifications, but it has not been shown that these can not be artificially induced, or that deformation must be universally morbid in character because it is a departure from such standards of organic type as now exist in imagi- nation. he On tae morphological side the question seems equally uncertain. Given, however, any cause which will effectually modify function, and modification of structure is inevitable. No naturalist supposes that the digital variations recorded as inherited, or those of the teeth, skin, etc., are attributable to any other cause than physiological change; and the same with transmitted club-foot, harelip, amaurosis, deafness. Fur- ther, adjustments by involution take place in nature as well as those by evolution, and although there are no structures whose properties are not origiually ascribable to predetermined structural traits, there are yet structures which have no discoverable physiological features; and while morphological species, or species whose specific forms have no biological value, are recognized in zoology, aud which, whether perma- nently or not, are withdrawn from the action of natural selection, it is difficult to see why the production of variety by any means that would effectually change function should be disallowed. As was stated, there are reasons for suspecting that some such process has occurred among mankind to a limited extent; but whether or not, when all accessible information on the subject is organized, this may not prove to be a misconception attributable to insufficient knowledge, remains to be determined. GENERAL NOTES ON DEFORMATION. Malte-Brun. (Géographie Universelle. Ed. of Lavallée. Paris, 1858. 4to, t. 1.) General remarks on the causes and modes of distortion of the head (p. 303). Humboldt & Bonpland. (Voyage, etc. Paris, 1811. 4to, 3° partie, t.1. ‘‘ Essai Politique, ete.) Remarks on head-flattening, its character and cause among Indians of North and South America. (Note, pp. 89, 90.) Jefferys remarks upon the fine forms of the Indians of North America, and says the fact is attributable to “ their bodies not being swathed and straitened in the cradle” (part 1, p 96). The cradle-board was in use among all the tribes described by him; but this error is not surprising in an author who characterizes the Eskimaux as ‘ tall of stature,” and speaks of ‘“‘ their flaxen hair, their beards, the whiteness of their skin * * * quite as fair as that of Europeans” (part 1, p. 43). Certain blond tribes do occur among the Hyperborean races, but not where Jefferys places them; although the Eskimanx are not really dark-skinned. Withregard to the fine forms so constantly noted among the American and other savages, most writers have ascribed it to their modes of life; Humboldt adding, in the case of the Americans, a certain racial im- plasticity. Most of the earlier authorities have evidently judged an assumed eth- nological fact from the stand-point of a social theory. There does not appear to be any natural reason why a savage should be better shaped than a civilized man, and that this isthe case remains to be shown. There is, however, an excellent reason why those who are physically defective should be eliminated from all aggregates in a | ® ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. 231 a state of savagery, both by the action of natural selection and by that of their fellow-creatures. A very large body of proof could be readily brought forward to’ support the view that Wrangell’s statement concerning the Chukchees held true of most peoples in a similar social phase, viz: ‘‘La mort attend Venfant quia le malheur de naitre avec quelque difformité.” Le Nord de la Sibérie. Paris, 1843, vol. 1, p. 267. Kennan and Bush made like cbservations in the same region, and Capt. John G. Bourke, U. 8. Army, has pointed out that in the south this custom is mentioned by Padre Gumilla (‘‘ Orinose.” Madrid, 1741, p. 344), and by Clavigero (Historia de la Baja California. Mexico, 1852, p. 27). I do not recall any reference of the same kind in Hennepin, Le Clerc, Charlevoix, etc.; but though the custom may have existed among the northern tribes, despite Robertson’s assertion that all the American Indians killed the children who “ appeared feeble or defective” (Hist. Dis. & Set. of America. N. Y., 1856, p. 144), there is no doubt that in the literature of travel itis more fre- quently mentioned as occurring among the southern tribes; and this may have been one reason why the earlier discoverers, Columbus, Vespucci, Verrazzano, &c., have spoken only of the fine appearance of the natives. The same contrasts, however, are found in savage life in this as in other respects. Captain Bourke confirms from personal observation the statement make in Emory’s ‘‘ Reconnoissance”’ (p. 61), that among the Apaches the deformed are sometimes well cared for. He also refers to a like mention in Francis Parkman (The Jesuits in North America. Boston, 1867, Introductory, XL), and also to Peter Martyr’s narrative (Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. 5, p. 397). In connection with head-flattening in America, Humboldt (Political Essay on New Spain. London, 1814. 8vo, vol. 1) asserts that the back-head is naturally flat (p. 155). Also that the American cranium is normally ‘‘depressed backwards * * * among nations to whom the means of artificially produciug deformity are * * * unknown.” The Aztecs ‘never disfigure the heads of their children.” The Mexican, Peruvian, and Aturean heads—all flattened; those Bonpland and himself procured were natural. ‘‘Certain hordes do compress the heads of children” (pp. 154, 155). Squier (The States of Central America. N. Y., 1858. &vo) quotes Valenzuela to the effect that among the Indians found by the Spanish at Lacandon (Dolores), Gua- temala, ‘‘the cradles for their children were made of reeds” (p. 567). Under the heading Téte, Encyclopedie des Sciences, etc., Neufchatel, 1765, is the following: ‘‘Tl est parlé dans les voyages et dans les geographies modernes, de cer- tains peuples qui se rendent la téte plat que Ja main, et qui mettent la téte de leurs enfans, dés qwils sont nés, entre deux presses, ou planches, sur le front et le der- _ riére de la téte pour l’appiatir.” NOTES ON AMERICA. Bancroft. (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1873, vol. 1.) Chichimec women carried their infants on the back, “wrapped in a coarse cotton cloth, leaving the head and arms free” (p. 633). The cradle was a wicker basket suspended from a beam or bough (p. 633). Gomara (Con. Mex., fol. 318) states that the occiput was flattened among the Nahua nations by an arrangement of the cradle, this form being considered becoming. (Ban- croft, Native Races, etc., vol. 11, p. 281.) Humboldt’s statement that the Aztecs did not distort the head was, as Bancroft remarks (Native Races, vol. 11, p. 281), too sweeping. That the custom “ was prac- ticed to a considerable extent in remote times by people inhabiting the country seems to be shown by the deformed skulls found in their graves, and by the sculptured figures upon the ruins.” Klemm states that ‘“‘the cradle consisted of a hard board to which the infant was bound in such a manner as to cause the malformation.” Sahagun, Torquemada, Clavigero, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Carbazal Espinosa say that when a Teochichimec child was born on a journey ‘“‘the new-born babe was placed in a wicker basket and thrown over the back of the mother.” (Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States. N. Y., 1875, vol. 1, p. 271, note.) 222 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ; *«Yorquemada (Book xiv, ch. 24) states that the Indians,” in Mexico, “used to de- form their heads with a view to appear more formidable.” (Spencer, Des. Soc. An- ~ cient Mexicans, Central Americans, etc., p. 27.) Landa (§ xx). ‘The Indians of Yucatan are, * * * asarule, * * * bow- legged, for in their infancy their mothers carry them about suspended at their haunch- bones. They were made ‘squint-eyed,’” and their heads were flattened artificially. (Spencer, Des. Soc. Ancient Mexicans, Central Americans, etc., p. 27.) Landa (§ xxx) describes the process: “Four or five days after birth the child was put on a small bed made of rods, and there, the face being underneath, the head was put between two boards, in front and behind. Between these they compressed it * * * until the head was flattened and shaped like their own.” (Idem, p. 27.) Brancroft. (Native Races of the Pacific States. N. Y., 1873, vol. 1.) The Quiché woman (Central America) carries her baby en her back ‘in a cloth passed around her body” (p. 704). Bancroft. (Native Races of the Pacific States. N. Y., 1875, vol. 1, 8vo.) The Nica- ragua and Yucatan infants’ heads were compressed and permanently flattened be- tween two boards asa sign of noble birth. Squier asserts that occipital flattening was effected by the cradle-board among the Quichés, Cakchiquels, and Zutugils (pp. 731, 732). Don Horatio Guzman, minister from Nicaragua, informs me that no compression of the head and no swathing of the infant is now practiced in any part of that country. ; Bancroft. (Native Races of the Pacific States. N. Y., 1873, vol. 1.) The Smoos Indians of the Mosquito Group flatten the forehead by a process like that in use among the Columbians (p. 717). Fuentes. (Palacio, p. 106.) In Guatemala children were fastened ‘“‘to a board by means of straps wound round the body * * * from the feet to the shoulders, in consequence of which all the Indians have the backs of their heads smooth and flat.” (Spencer, Des. Soc. Ancient Mexicans, Central Americans, etc., p. 28.) Jefferys, T. (Nat. and Civil Hist. of French Dominionsin North and South America. London, 1760, fol.) Among the aborigines of Hispaniola ‘‘the singular conformation ofthe head * * * iseffected by art.” Mothers pressed their infant’s skull, either by hand or with boards, until it was distorted, ‘‘and in a manner bent back upon itself” (Part 11, p. 8). Oviedo. (Historia General y Natural de Indias, book 11, chap. 5.) His statement of head-flattening is rather vague. ‘Porque al tiempo que nacen los nitos les aprie- tan las cabezas,” etc. The width of the front head, which he remarks as the result of artificial interference, points to the same form, and like appliances, noticed by Porto- Seguro, and others, in Brazil. (Idem, book 42, chap. 3.) Gomara is cited as giving the same evidence concerning the natives of San Domingo. He says they flattened the head with cotton compresses for the purpose of enlarging the face. ‘‘ Aprietan 4 los ninos la cabeza muy blando, pero mucho entre dos almohadillas de algodon, para ensancharles la cara,” ete. There seems to have been some confusion in Gomara’s mind on this subject—Bernal Diaz says there was on all subjects. At all events he gives another account of the ~ manner in which the infant’s head was distorted, which amounts to this: that it was done by the midwife at the moment of birth, or shortly after. In this case, a very common one among different tribes, the fact apparently indicates gradual extinction of the custom, since the effect of simple manipulation would be temporary, and where distortion implies as much as it sometimes does, its absence exposes the individual to the greatest misfortunes. Topinard. (Eléments @’Anthropologie Générale. Paris, 1885. 8vo.) Remarks of forms of distortion by manipulation alone that they must be impermanent—“‘incapa- bles de produire une déformation sontenue” (p. 756). Prof. William H. Flower holds the same views, and, indeed, the fact is physiologically self-evident unless the ma- nipulation were of an unprecedented kind. % g t 3 ‘ r . ,. ce in % : r, P ‘ . > = ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. 293 Las Casas (Apologética Historia. Madrid, 1875, chap. 34) remarks that in Peru head distortion was distinctive of the Inca family and of the highest nobility. “Privilegio grande concedian los del Peri 4 algunos sefores y que ellos querian fa- vorecer” (p. 396, vide Marcot, notes). Major, R.H. (Select Letters of Christopher Columbus, etc. London, 1870. Second edition, Hakluyt So. Pub.) Dr. Chanca, fleet surgeon on Columbus’s second voyage, says, of the native and Carib women in the West Indies, that the latter wore ‘‘on each leg two bands of woven cotton, the one fastened round the knee, the other ‘round the ankle; by this means they make the calves of their legs large, and the above-mentioned parts very smal]. * * * By this peculiarity we distinguished them” (p. 30). 4 Dr. Chaneca supposed this custom to depend upon an idea that the distortion was becoming—‘‘ que esto me parece que tienen ellos por cosa gentil” (p. 30). De Rochefort, C. (Histoire Naturelle, etc., des [les Antilles. Rotterdam, 1658. 4to.) Notice of head and nose flattening among the Caribs (p. 382). Humboldt and Bonpland. (Voyage, etc. Paris, 1819. 4to, seconde partie, p. 11. Relation Historique.) Distortions practiced by the Caribs on the Orinoco (p. 235). Squier, E.G. (Nicaragua, ete. New York, 1852. 8vo, Vol. u.) Head-flattening among aborigines. Process and local origin of custom (p. 345). Vide Relacion of Fray Bobadilla on the same points. (Archivo de Indias.) ? Heriot, G.. (Travels Through the Canadas. London, 1807. 4to.) ‘*The Caraibs have their foreheads flattened. * * * The head of the infant is compressed into this shape by placing on its brow a piece of board tied with a bandage, which is al-. lowed to remain until the bones have acquired consistence” (p. 348). Heriot,G. (Travels Through the Canadas. London, 1807, 4to.) Carib girls have a cotton sock woven to the leg, and ‘so closely * * * that the calf thereby ac- quires more thickness and solidity than it would naturally possess” (p. 307). Armas, Juan I.de. (Les Cranes dits Déformés. Havana, 1885.) This is a paperread before the Anthropological Society of Havana, November, 1885, to prove that mechani- cal deformation of the head was never practiced in the West Indies or on the continent. Graells, Vilanova and Arcas. (Rapport présenté 4 Madrid, le 24 Mars, 1871.) This was to the effect that certain crania from Cuba, taken to be flattened Carib skulls, could not be identified as artificially deformed, but were probably natural heads. The text is, ‘having noticed that in the front and back part of the head the depres- sion is not uniforin, the commission is inclined to consider the flattening as natural, etc.” These skulls seem to have been found by Don R. Ferrer, who very truly says that they can not be regarded as specimens of head-flattening among the Caribs, be- cause there were never any Caribs in Cuba. (De Armas, Cranes dits Déformés, p. 7.) De Armas (Les Cranes dits Déformés) says that no such practice could have been general in America for various reasons, viz, it was difficult, tedious, and painful, and would have been destructive to the intellect (?); also that the Indians, though say- ages, were men with natural feelings toward their offspring which would have pre- vented them from perpetrating a custom so destructive as distortion of the bead (p. 14 et seg.). Having given this illustration of his knowledge of the literature of an- thropology, he declares that neither among the Peruvian mummies nor in the exist- ing race could von Tchudi and Rivero discover a justification of the theory of me- chanical deformation. A fact, and a singular one, but no more decisive than Robert- son’s statement that the mound skulls of North America are all normal (pp. 14, 15). In conclusion he remarks that “there is no basis, scientific, historical, or rational, on which to rest the affirmation that there were * * * andare * * * parts of America in which the natural formation of the head was (or is) modified by me- chanical means.” And more particularly is this a self-evident truth with regard to the Caribs of the Lesser Antilles: first, because none of the earliest chroniclers speak of the custom ; and second, because the crania of this people have not the form attributed to them. Of course it was not possible for de Armas to deny the unsym- 224 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. metrical contour of certain skulls, but he asserted that this was natural, and if the statement could be relied on, none could be made of moreimportance. The weight of evidence is, however, overwhelmingly against him. De Armas also asserts that Oviedo was the originator of the idea that distortion of the cranium was customary among the Indians of San Domingo, ete., but Gomara, Las Casas, De Leon, and Garcilasso dela Vega make like statements, and the evidence includes West Indian, Peruvian, Floridian tribes, Walker (Colombia. London, 1822. 8vo) quotes Humboldt to the effect that. among the Caribs of Panapana ‘‘the women * * * carried their infants on their backs.” They also, for the sake of adornment, compress the thighs and legs by “‘ broad strips of cotton cloth, by which” the flesh * * * wasswelledinthe interstices. * * * They attach great importance to certain forms of the body. (Vol. 1, p. 545.) Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas. London, 1807. 4to.) ‘The natives of South America generally make use of hammocks of cotton or of the interior bark of trees. * * * This they suspend in their cabins and sometimes on the boughs of trees” (p. 287). Sener Mutis Duran, of the Colombian legation at Washington, states that no tribe of Indians known to him in New Granada or Colombia distorts the head, but that cra- nial compression may be practiced by other tribes of this area which he had not ob- served. Bandaging infants with the idea of preserving the symmetry of their forms is general among all classes. The cradles used by the wealthy are imported or made after European models. Among the poorer classes there are two forms of cradle in use—one a boat-shaped case of light wood or bamboo, which will rock on any plane surface, and another constructed of similar materials and of like form, which is suspended from the end of a crooked rod and swung in the air. Hilhouse, William. (Warow Land of British Guiana. Jour. Roy. Geo. Soc. Lon- don, 1834. Vol.1Iv.) Dr. Hancock remarks (note, pp. 332, 333, on Hilhouse’s account of the Indians seen here) that ‘‘ these tribes have also,” 4. e., like the coast tribes of the Marafion, “‘ the spread in the foot, or duck’s foot. * * * Their feet and toes are spread out in the manner most suitable for walking on the muddy shores and marshes they inhabit.” Im Thurn, E. F. (Among the Indians of Guiana (i. e., British Guiana). London, 1883. 8yvo.) Head-flattening customary among people of upper Essequibo River; formerly prevalent among chief tribes throughout Guiana and among all ‘true Caribs” (p. 191). Distortion of women’s legs by Caribs (p. 192). Ploss, Dr. H. (Das Kind im Brauch und Sitte der Vélker. Leipzig, 1884. 2 Aufl., 2 Band.) Description of the treatment of infants in Peru under the Incas (Idem, p. 57). The same with respect to children in Asiatic Turkey and Chinese Turkestan (Idem, p. 60). Remarks on the effects of position at rest (Idem, pp. 81, 82). State- ments concerning the cradle-board and head-flattening in America (Idem, pp. 101 102). Description of the suckling-board and swaddling of infants among the Maron- ites and Modern Germans (Idem, p. 113, 114). Squier, E. G. (Peru, etc. New York, 1877. 8vo.) Distorted Aymara skull from Chulpas (p. 244). Appendix B. Extract from Fourth Annual Report of Peabody Museum. Cam- bridge. Remarks of Professor Wyman ‘On crania. Two modes of distortion, their effects,” etc. (pp. 580, 581). Vide Padre Arriaga on this custom. Prichard, J. ©. (Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. London, 1841. 4th ed. 8vo) quotes Spix and Martius on the separation of the great toe among the Puris, Coropos, and Coroados, South America. Marcoy, P. (Travels in South America. . London, 1875. 4to.) Head-flattening formerly practiced by Peruvian Conibos. Obsolete within two generations. All very old people seen by Marcoy had distorted crania; no young persons. (Vol. 1, p. 40, and note.) Acosta, Joaq. (p.24). The Panches (Chibchas) compressed the skulls of infants be- ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. 225 tween boards into a ‘“‘pyramidal” shape. (Spencer, Des. Soc. Ancient Mexicans, Central Americans, etc., p. 28.) Idem. Lengthening (apart from piercing) the lobe of the ear was a royal fashion of the first four Incas. After Mayta-Cupas it became designative of the Curacas (Caciques) of the body guard. Now prevalent among certain tribes of the Amazons, e. g., the Orejones (Spanish), broad-ears. (Vol. it, p. 270.) Piedrahita. (Book 1, ch.2.) The Coyaimas and Natagaymas (Chibchas) ‘‘have the custom of putting the tender head of a new-born child between two boards * * * insuchawaythatit * * * gets flattened.” The Pichaos and Panches of the same stock do this also. (Spencer, Des. Soc. Ancient Mexicans, etc., p. 28.) Idem. Compression of the head into the shape of ‘‘a bishop’s mitre.” (Vide Porto- Seguro.) Now obsolete among the Omaguas or Flatheads—a Spanish corruption of the Quichua Omahuas. These are an emigrant stock—the Umaiias, called by the Tupinambas of Brazil Icanga-pefia (flatheads), which was contracted and corrupted hy the Portuguese into Cambebas, whence La Condamine’s mistake. (Vide Ref.) He mistook a title for a race name. (Vol. 11, 340-342.) Cieza (ch. 100) says of the Peruvian Collas that ‘‘their heads are very long and flattened behind, because they are pressed and flattened into what shape they choose during childhood.” (Spencer, Des. Soc. Ancient Mexicans, Central Americans, etc., p. 28.) ‘Owen, Prof. R. (Anatomy of the Vertebrates. London, 1866. 8vo.) In the Inca race the skull ‘‘is high behind, owing to the habit of carrying the infant with the back of the head resting on a flat board, the pressure usually producing unsymme- trical distortion of the occipital part of the skull.” (Vol. 11, p. 567.) The same state- ment is made concerning the Patagonians. (Vol. 1, p. 568.) Cieza (ch. 50). Among the Caraques of Peru the child’s head was pressed between boards, so that it ‘‘ was long and broad, but flat behind.”’ The Indians said this was conducive to health and vigor. (Spencer, Des. Soc. Ancient Mexicans, Central Americans, etc., p. 28.) Idem. Pls. Nos. 386, 387, and 388, vol. 11, p. 567, exhibit artificially distorted skulls of the ancient Peruvians from Titicaca. Meyen (p. 36) mentions a decree of the Lima Synod of 1585 against flattening bre head. Rivero and Tschudi say that the irregularities in crania from the coast of Peru “ were undoubtedly produced by mechanical causes” (p. 32). Santa Cruz, Nar- ratives, p. 78, states that Manco Capac introduced head-flattening to make the people silly and easily ruled. (Spencer, Des. Soc. Ancient Mexicans, etc., p. 28.) Marcoy, P. (Travels in South America. London, 1875. 4to.) Notice of custom of distorting the head among the Aymaras. (Vol. I, pp. 67, 68.) Old Aymara sculp- tures showing vertical and antero-posterior flattening. (Vol. 1, p. 185.) This work contains many ‘‘ typical portraits” (1, 103) “taken from life” (1, 518). If correct at all, the Quichuas on the west, and Antis and Chunlaquiro Indians east of the Andes, distort their heads now, though Marcoy does not say so. (Vide pls. Vol. 1, pp. 103, 476, 515.) Seatijwermocls (Book xtrv, ch. 25) affirms that permission to —a the heads of their children was a favor granted by the Inca to some nobles, e. g., the artificial contour was that of the royal family. (Spencer, Des. Soc. Ancient Mexicans, Central Americans, etc., p. 28.) In all these contemporary fac-similes, and in the portrait medallions (Vol. 1, pp. 210, 216, sixteenth century) of Incas and Coyas—‘‘ The Imperial Tree ”—it is noteworthy that, if the delineation is at all accurate, some heads are distorted and some not. -. It is not possible in this instance to reconcile the portraits with Las Casas’ statement that after the fourth Inca the custom ceased. Ulloa, Juan and Antonio de. (Voyage to South America. London, 1807. 8vo.) Among the Quito Indians, “their beds consist of two or three sheepskins, without pillows or anything else.” (Vol.1, pp. 408,409.) Children are carried on the mothers' shoulders. (Vol.1,p. 409.) H, Mis. 600, pt. 2——15 226 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Miers, J. (Travels in Chili and La Plata. London, 1826. 8vo.) The Pampa In- dians ‘‘never walk any distance * * * some use saddles, but not all; * * * they are ill made.” (Vol.1, pp. 256,257.) Dr. Leighton says of the ‘ horse ” Tudians of Chili, that ‘‘ their legs are generally bandy.” (Vol. 1, p. 473.) anion the Indians of Chili, ‘‘ the child is slung in a kind of basket, formed of a wooden hoop having a net-work stretched across it; it is hung by thongs to the roof of the hut.” (Vol. 11, p. 462.) De LaCondamine. (Relation Abrégée dun Voyage, ete. Maestricht, 1778. 12mo.) Derivation of the tribal names, Omaguas and Camberas, from the custom of flatten- ing the head; notice of the process (p. 70). Vide Porto-Seguro, Historia Geral do Brazil. Vol. 1, pp. 18, 19. Porto-Seguro. (Historia Geral do Brazil. Rio de Janeiro, 1878. 8vo. Vol. 1. Head-Flattening.) Etymological remarks on the derivation of the name of certain Tupi (Guaranie) tribes, from what appears to be antero-posterior compression. «‘ Parecidas a mitras de bispos.” (Vol. 1, pp. 18, 19.) Southey remarks (History of Brazil. London, 1819. 4to. Vol. m1, p. 705) that when Ribeiro encountered the remains of the Omagua at Olivenga in 1774, ‘‘ they. -had left off the apparatus for flattening the foreheads and elongating the heads of their infants; still they admired the old standard of beauty so much that they moulded them by hand; but the custom is now wholly disused.” In Note 32, Vol. Il, p. 896, he adds that ‘several tribes of the Rio Negro flattened their heads like the Omaguas.” Humboldt (Political Essay on New Spain. London, 1814. 8vo. Vol. I, p. 154) says, ‘‘the barbarous custom * * * of pressing the heads of children between two boards” in South America, ‘‘ was, like the Greek exaggeration of the facial angle, the Kalmuck nose, the Hottentot lips, an attempt to conform to an ideal of beauty.” Spix and Martius. (Travelsin Brazil. London, 1824. 8vo.) It is stated that the women of the Coroados of East Brazil “‘ carry their children about on their backs,” and from the context, as well as the fact that the sleeping-cradle is a hammock, it seems probable that they are carried in a sling. (Vol. 11, p. 247.) Brown and Lidstone. (Fifteen Thousand Miles on the Amazon, etc. London, 1878.- 8vo.) They mention another exception to the use of the hammock. The Pamary Indians, on the Rio Negro, ‘have not the peculiarity of using hammocks, but sleep on the floor of their tents” on ‘‘ mats of plaited palm leaves” (p. 433). Heriot, G. (Travels Through the Canadas. London, 1807. 4to.) ‘‘The Brazil- ians, and several other nations in South America,” plunge the new-born infant into water. It is then ‘“‘swaddled to little boards lined with cotton, and more frequently with moss” (p. 343). In connection with references to nose-flattening as a custom among Brazilian and other South American Indians, the following indicates both the variability of the facial type and that of the standard to which nasal contour conforms when arti- ficially modified. De Moussy, V. M. (Description, etc., de la Confédération Arger- tine. Paris, 1860. 8vo.) quotes d’Orbigny’s L’homme américain, etc., to the effect that in the Peruvian branch of the Ando-Peruvian race the nose is long and high— “‘nez long, tres aquilin.” In the Antisian branch of same race it varies—‘ nez vari- able.” In the Araucanian branch of same race it is “‘trés court.” The Pampa branch of the Pampean race have the “‘nez trés-court, trés-épaté, 4 narines larges, ouvertes.” Among the Chiquiteau branch of this race the nose is ‘‘court, un peu épaté.” In the third or Moxcan branch of the Pampean race it is “‘court, peu large.” Among the Guarani tribes of the Brazilio-Guaranian race, the feature is described as “nez court, étroit, narines étroites.” Length is a natural characteristic; the rest may bo natural or artificial, but no doubt are largely modifications. Vide references, passim. (Vol. Il, pp. 145-147 ; note.) Dobrizhoffer, M. (An Account of the Abipones. London, 1822. 8vo.) Father Dobrizhoffer was in Paraguay from 1749 to 1767, and his ethnological matter is ex- ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. 227 ; ceptionally valuable. Of a certain tribe at Mbaevera he says: ‘‘The mothers put their babies in wicker baskets, and carry them on their shoulders.” (Vol. 1, p. 62.) This is the first notice of any cradle but a sling in this region. _ Dobrizhoffer, M. (An Account of the Abipones, London, 1822. 8vo.) The mounted tribes—Indios bravos—of Paraguay ‘‘do not use stirrups, and most of them are unfurnished with saddles, even.” This fact accounts for the excessive curvature of the legs noticed in previous references. (Vol. 1, p. 236.) Dobrizhoffer remarks of the Abipones of Chaco, also ‘‘an equestrian people,” but who are provided with saddles, though ‘stirrups are not in general use,” that ‘you never see an Abipone with * * * bandy legs.” Like the Kirghiz, ali these In- dians ride more than they walk, and are placed on horseback at the earliest age. Father Dobrizhofter’s statement is not in accordance with the facts of common obser- 7 _ vation in this regard; but, taken with some reservation, the greater symmetry of limb among the tribes of Chaco is evidently due to the difference of position involved in the use of asaddle. (Vol. m1, p. 113.) - King, Col. J. A. (Twenty-four Years in the Argentine Republic. London, 1846. 8yo.) ~The Chirivione Indians of Gran-Chaco would not eat mutton for fear “ their noses would become flat” (p. 109). Parrish, Sir W. (Buenos Ayres. London, 1852. 8vo.) Speaking of the Pehuen- _ ehes—‘‘ Pine Trees”—a Pampa branch, he says: ‘‘I have seen some of these Indians who, from being so constantly on horseback, had become bow-legged to such an ex- tent of deformity that the soles of their feet were turned inward, etc.” (p. 173). This points to the absence of a saddle, such as used, at least, by their congeners, the Tehuelches-Patagonians. Harris, J. (Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca. London, 1744. Folio.) Sebald de Weert speaks of the ‘“‘ crooked legs” of a certain Indian woman found in the Straits of Magellan. (Vol.1, p. 42.) From what is said afterwards (Idem. p. 43) this was evidently a Fuegian. There are several references to the distortion of limbs among the Fuegians, and toits cause. As an example of the uncertainty attaching to reports of the early voyagers, Harris’, Navigantium, etc., quotes Jaques le Hermite, Voyage of Circumnavigation, 1623, to the effect that the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego were ‘‘as fair as any in Europe; * * * very strong and well proportioned, and generally about the height of the people in Europe.” (Vol.1, p. 71.) Of the same kind is Captain Cow- B -ley’s statement, made from personal observation, that the Hottentots “are born white, but make themselves black with soot.” (Harris’s Bibliotheca, Vol. 1, p. 83.) Cook, Captain. (Voyages, etc. London, 1773. 8vo.) Describing the beds of the natives of Terra del Fuego, says that ‘‘alittlegrass * * * served both for bed and chairs.” (Vol. 11, p. 55.) NOTES ON EUROPE. Rae, Ed. (The White Sea Peninsula. London, 1881. 8vo.) Bowed legs are men- tioned as characteristic of the Norwegian Lapps. Nota pure race like those of South _ Finmark and Terski Lapland. Distortion probably due to the skin-bag cradle (p. 232). Laing, §. (Journal of a Residence in Norway. London, 1836. 8vo.) He describes as a characteristic the bowed legs of the Norwegian Lapps. ‘They form a curve with the leg-bone down to the foot, so that in standing with their feet close together all above is far apart” (p. 247). Pressure in the hood, etc., during infancy probably causes this. Panofka, T. (Mannersand Customs of the Greeks. London, 1849. 4to.) Descrip- tion of the Afxvoy, or wicker, shoe-shaped swinging cradle of Greece (Pt. 11). Guhl and Koner. (Life of the Greeks and Romans. London, —-. &vo.) ‘‘The antique cradle,” 7. e., the Aixvov of the Heroic age, “ consisted of a flat swing of bas- ket-work.” The child, enveloped in the ondépyava, must necessarily have been bound 228 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. to this. In the shoe-shaped basket-cradle the infant occupied a sitting position (vide pl., p. 195). The last-named cradle had handles, by which it could be carried orswung. Subsequently, when communication with Asia was constant, other forms of the. cradle came into use, ‘‘ cradles similar to our own modern ones” (pp. 195, 196). The ordpyava, used everywhere in Greece, except in Sparta, were designed to prevent distortion. Besides the swaddling-clothes, however, there was in common use a sufficient variety of bed-clothes to make any kind of resting place for the child soft enough to insure safety against pressure, viz, the «Aivy of Homer was covered with hides (kéec), and over this lay the pyyea, blankets or mattress, perhaps. At all events, the later xvépatov was a sack of some kind of stuff filled with feathers, picked wool, etc., and was laid across the straps of the déua, or folding bed (cot). There were also linen sheets, the blankets before mentioned, and some kind of a heavier covering, presumably of wool, since it was rough on both sides—mepiorpouara, émiBAjuata, ete.—together with stuffed pillows and bolsters. Professor Becker (Charicles, London, 1880; Excursus, pp. 221, 222) gives much the same account of the Greek bed and bedding as Guhl and Koner, Life of the Greeks and Romans (p. 136, et seg.). Cradles, he says, are first mentioned by Plutarch. ‘ Plato knew nothing of them.” No author of his age can be said to have mentioned ‘‘a regular cradle.” Mothers probably carried their children in their arms, and these ‘‘were not encouraged to walk very early.” Wet-nurses were commonly employed, and among these the Spartan women were the most famous. Potter, Dr. J. (Archeologia Greca. New York, 1825. 8vo.) It appears that ob- servation had taught the Greeks the effects of pressure on immature bones, since everywhere, except in Sparta, where the end was otherwise secured, the infant was wrapped “‘in swaddling-bands * * * Jlestits limbs * * * should happen to be distorted” (p. 628). De Perthes, B. (Voyage en Russie. Paris, 1859. 12mo.) Remarks on nose-flat- tening in Asiatic Russia, and probable cause of the custom (p. 288). i Burton and Drake. (Unexplored Syria. London, 1872. 8vo.) Cranium said to be Turanian, exhibiting ‘‘unilateral flattening * * * from use of the suckling- board.” (Appendix, vol. 11, p. 277.) Burton and Drake. (Unexplored Syria. London, 1872. 8vo. Vol. 11, Appendix.) Distortion of cranial contour referred to ‘‘custom of swathing the child’s head tightly after birth” (vide Foville on the process). This distortion of the calvaria was in the case of a Semitic (probably Jewish) skull (p. 346), (ibid., Appendix, vol. 11). Specimen of brachycephalous Greco-Roman cranium, exhibiting asymmet- rical parietal and supra-occipital flattening, partially due to ‘suckling-board” (pp. 356, 357). Seebohm, H. (Siberia in Asia, London, 1882. 8vo), describes an Ost/-yak cradle as “a wooden box, about 3 inches deep, with rounded ends, almost the shape of the child.” The oval bottom covered with sawdust. Infant wrapped in flannel and furs, and lashed in the cradle. The child is nursed while in this position (pp. 62, 63). Prichard, J. C. (Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. London, 1841. Ath ed. 8vo.) He quotes Pallas to the effect that the only deformity visible among Kalmuks is ‘‘an outward bending of the arms and legs, resulting from the practice of cansing children to rest in their cradles on a kind of saddle” (vol. 1, p. 263). Prejvalsky, Col. N. (Mongolia. London, 1876. 8vo. Vol.1.) Chapter 1, page 47 et seq., ‘“is especially devoted to the ethnology of Mongolia.” Hesays of the Mon- gol, ‘his legs are bowed by constant equestrianism ;” but nothing of any form of cradle, or mode of carrying infants, or of malformations other than the above, is said any where, In Pumpelly’s Across America and Asia, La Farge (p. 199) has given fac-similes of wood-cuts representing various deformities of the head, evidently artificial. Jap- anese art, and especially genre art, is of a high order, not relatively, but positively, and as it can not be supposed that such should be the case without a knowledge of . ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. 229 _ the fact that all caricature depends for its effect upon an exaggeration of well-known characteristics to the degree of grotesqueness, it would be well to inquire if now or formerly any custom, etc., justified these contours. From Dr. W. W. Rockhill the information is received that in China and Mongolia children are carried in the same way as described by Mr. Akabané in Japan, except that the crossed bands to secure the child on the mother’s back are not made use of, Capt. John G. Bourke, U.S. Army, states that the Navajos use a eradle-board similar to that described by Major Powell on the Colorado, viz, a buckskin sack fastened to a board, into which the infant is put without being swathed. No cradles are used by the Japanese, Chinese, or in Mongolia. NOTES ON ASIA. The Emperor of China, Kien-hing (1736-1796), in his work Mandchou-yuen-lion-kas, says: ‘‘The ancient Mandchoussome days after the birth of a child prepared for it a little hard bed, and laid it thereon face up. Little by little the back of the head was flattened and became larger. The Chinese have a custom opposite to this. They lay ' the new born upon its side, first right, then left, wherefore the head is made nar- P rower.” This would make the Mandchous brachycephals and the Chinese dolicocephals. Busk, George (Jour. Anthrop. Inst. Great Britain and Ireland, Nov., 1878, ‘Notes on askull termed Nabathzan”) says that regarding the norma lateralis, its outlines “almost suggest that the skull has been constricted by a bandage.” Spencer, H. (Descriptive Sociology, N. Y. Asiatic Races among the Nomadic Arabs.) ‘‘Noble families used to alter the shape of children’s heads.” (Table xxx1.) This was done in the age of Abou-Zeyd. (Bastian. Mensch. 11, 229.. Id., p. 21.) Vambéry, A. (Sketches of Central Asia. London, 1868. 8vo.) The Turkoman head is ‘‘ proportionally small” and oblong. This form “is ascribed to the cireum- stance” that infants are not cradled, but “placed * * * inaswing made of linen cloth” (p. 296). The Turkomans commonly have “ their feet bent inwardly; proba- bly the consequence of their continually riding on horseback ” (p. 296). Pallas. (1, 98, efseqg.) The Kalmucks “are wellmade, with the exception of the legs, which are generally bent (arising from being so much on horseback), and slender, like the arms.” (Spencer, Des. Sociol. Asiatic Races, p. 3.) Featherman, A. (Social History of the Races of Mankind, 2d division. London, 18-7. 8vo.) The women among the Néasesa, ‘‘who are accustomed to bear heavy burdens, have their knees turned inward, and their hips are more or less deformed” (Cp. 347). Featherman, A. (Social History of the Races of Mankind, 2d division. London, 1887. 8vo.) Among the Nicobar Islanders “the skull is depressed by art” (p. 239). “4 block of wood answers the purpose of a pillow” (p. 240). Langsdorf, G. H. von (Voyages and Travels, London, 1813. 4to) deserihes the _Ainos (Japan) as having ‘‘compressed noses” (vol. 1, p. 328). He says the same of the people of Oonalashka (vol. 1, p. 31). It is not stated that this peculiarity is produced by artificial means. In this, as in a great number of other instances, noth- ing is said of the appliances used; but the inference is that such must have existed in the case of infants. The following information, communicated by Mr. Shiro Akabané, secretary of the Japanese legation at Washington, exhibits a very simple mode of carrying infants on the back. No cradles of any kind are used in Japan. The child is never bandaged. It is wrapped loosely in a cloth of some kind, and placed on a soft mattress on the floor. There it remains, except when nursed, until it isold enough to clasp the body of its parent with its legs, when it is placed on the back beneath the outer garment, and supported by two bands passing over its back like cross-belts. History of Kamtchatka (translated and abridged from official Russian account, based, on all voyages and travels to Kamtchatka and Kurile Islands, by Dr. James Grieve. Glocester, 1764. 4to). The Koreki (Koriaks) ‘use neither cradle nor swaddling- cloths,” No mention of any kind of bodily malformation (p. 233). 230 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. As Grieve says he only mentions facts concerning the Koriaks and Kurile Islanders, which are not true of Kamtchatdales, it may be true that in Kamtchatka and the Ku- riles cradles are used. Both among the Ainos and Tartars, Rollin’s descriptions point to distortions. The following are his cranial measurements in Saghalien and at the Baie de Castries: Island of Tchoka (Saghalien), circumference of head, 1 foot, 10 inches, 4 lines; long diameter, 9 inches, 8 lines; short diameter, 5 inches, 8 lines. Baie de Castries, cir- cumference of head, 1 foot, 9 inches, 4 lines; long diameter, 9 inches; short diameter, 5 inches, 4 lines. Bush, R. J. (Reindeer, Dogs, and Snow-Shoes. N. Y., 1871. 8vo.) In October Bush saw among the Gilaks, on the Amoor, ‘‘a babe tightly bandaged in a wooden box or cradle, something like that used by our Americay Indians, but with its legs from the knee downwards unfettered.” This cradle was hung vertically to the ‘‘ridge-pole” of a ‘“‘leav-to” shelter, and, the child’s feet touching the ground, it ‘‘swung itself” (p. 123). In northeast Siberia in January, Bush saw ‘‘two little boys,” belonging to the nomad Tungusians, “lashed together and thrown over a pack-saddle, the one balancing the other. * * * They were each sewed up in single garment * * * made of heavy reindeer fur.” Only the eyes and nose were visible (pp. 240, 241). A. E. Nordenskiéld (Voyage of the Vega, London, 1881, 8vo, Vol. 11) describes ‘(a wide skin covering with the legs and arms sewed together downwards” as the substitute for the cradle among the Chukchis. Similar devices used by most polar tribes apparently. No visible cause for distortion (p. 102). ; NOTES ON AFRICA. Wood, J.G. (Uncivilized Races of Men. Hartford, 1871. 8vo.) The Abyssinian midwives mold the features of infants ‘‘to make them handsome” (p. 658). Wood, J.G. (Uncivilized Racesof Men. Hartford, 1871. 8vo.) Among the Fans the child is carried astride of a bark belt (p. 530). The ‘‘paingkoont” or cireular mat cloak of Australians serves to carry the child, vertically placed. The Australian form is exceptionally fine (p. 699). The cradle of the New Zealand infant is a mat wrap (p. 817). In New Guinea the child lies ‘‘in a sort of sling” of leaves or bark, and is so carried (p. 901). Alexander, Captain (Jour. Royal Geogr. Soc., London, 1835, Vol. v, p. 318, note) says of the Fingoes (or Wanderers) of South Africa, that their ‘‘ children are carried behind wrapped in the kaross.” Little, H. (Madagascar. Edinburgh and London, 1884. 12mo.) The Magalasy “‘mother carries her infant upon her back, and notin her arms” (p. 64). No descrip- tion of the means used to support the child. On page 193 of M. C. Buet’s Madagascar la Reine des Iles Africaines, there is a plate of a woman carrying a child, placed in a sort of hood formed of a fold of the outer garment, which may explain Little’s statement. Wilkinson, Sir J. G. (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, New York, 1879) states that the head-rest, or according to Porphyry ‘‘a half-cylinder of wood in lieu of a pillow,” was in general use in Egypt. (Vol: 1, pp. 185, 186.) Wilkinson adds that the same kind of a pillow is found in China, Japan, and among the Ashantees and Kaffirs. This isa very incomplete statement of the peoples who use the head-rest; but there is a slight incongruity between his assertion of the uni- versal use of this kind of pillow, and that made (Vol. 1, p. 417) to the effect that the Egyptians commonly slept on couches, because many of those depicted in his plates would not have permitted the head-rest to be used on,account of their form. He says also that the Egyptian bed was often a skin placed on the ground or a frame of palm wicker-work like the modern caffass, and 1n these cases a wooden pillow, cush- ioned as in Japan and China, for the rich, might have been employed. The Madi women carry their infants in skins which have been dried in the sun and scraped clean and smooth with a stone and softened with butter, The skins of ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. 231 , goats, gazelles, sheep, and calves are used, the legs being tied together and strung _ over the mother’s shoulders. The baby is placed in the skin under the woman’s arm, with its head behind. Sometimes a gourd is placed over the head to protect it from the sun. When older, the child is carried on the arm. (Proc. Roy. Soc., Edinburgh, 1883-’84, p. 325.) NOTES ON OCEANICA. Forbes, H.O. (A Naturalist’s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago. New York, 1885. 8vo.) In Timor-Laut infants are laid ‘‘quite naked * * * ona hard palm spathe,” which is spread in a siwela or ‘‘rough rattan basket” (pp. 315, 316). Every one sleeps on a banquette covered with bamboo mats, and they. ‘‘rest their heads on a piece of squared bamboo with rounded edges” (p. 318). Dr. J. G. Garson (Appendix to Part Iv, p. 343), describing the Timor-Laut crania procured by Forbes, remarks that ‘‘all the brachycephalic skulls * * * exhibit more or less flattening in the occipital and parieto-cccipital region, such as would be produced by laying an infant, without any soft material under its head, in a cradle - like that described.” Owing to race intermixture there are two types of cranial con- tour in Timor-Laut; but it is evident that the same conditions must be operative whether the head is short or long. The difference is one of degree, not of kind. Dr. Garson observes also that “‘the height of the skulls is in all instances less than the breadth,” a fact which (although not mentioned as such) is of the same class as that of occipital flattening, and apparently due to the same cause, viz, the weight of a head incompletely ossified resting on an unyielding surface, and in which restitution during growth is prevented by the subsequent use of a wooden pillow. An isolated fact, and of course having only that value in this connection, is stated by Major Cambell (Geographical Memoir of Melville Island, north coast of Australia, in Jour. Royal Geogr. Soc. London, 1834, Vol. 1v). He says that the pillows he saw were made of ‘‘pieces of soft silky bark, rolled up in several folds” (p. 157), and also that their cranial characteristic is that ‘“‘the back of the head projects very much (p. _ 153). * * *. The aborigines of Melville and Bathurst Islands are of the same race _* * * as those throughout New Holland (p. 153). Hard or wooden pillows are not universal in warm countries. The Ovahs of Madagascar sit on cushions, lie on mats, and have a matted bolster.” (Jour. Roy. Geogr. Soc., 1835, Vol. v, p. 332; Captain Lewis.) Flower, William H. (Fashion in Deformity. Humboldt Library, New York. Vol. .. 11, No. 28.) The author reports a statement made to himself by Mr. H. B. Law, to the effect that the Dyaks of Arawak practiced artificial flattening of the occiput (p. 12). Featherman, A. (Social History of the Races of Mankind. 2d division. London, 1887. 8vo.) Among the Dyaks a mat like the Mexican petate, which serves the same ' purpose, is used fora bed. “A bag stuffed with grass answers the purpose of a pil- low” (p. 258). Reynolds, J. H. (voyage of the U. 8. frigate Potomac, New York, 1835, 8vo) states i that the heads of the Achenese ‘‘are somewhat flat or compressed,” but gives no rea- son for this (p. 183). Guillemard, Dr. F. H. H. (Cruise of the Marchesa, London. 1886. 8vo.) In the Sulu Archipelago the cradle used is a ‘‘little basket-woven cot” hung in the middle of a long bamboo supported at the ends. The vibrations of the bamboo when pulled rock the child. (Vol. 1, p. 14.) Among the Hatam Papuans he saw a number of women “with babies strapped upon their backs.” (Vol. m1, p. 294.) - Featherman, A. (Social History of the Races of Mankind. 2d division. London. 1887. 8yvo.) Among the Sumatras ‘‘the nose is flattened and the skull is compressed from early infancy as a mark of beauty” (p. 289). Marsden (p. 44). ‘‘The Sumatrans flatten the noses, and compress the noses of -¢hildren newly born, They likewise pull out the ears of infants to make them stand \ 23:2 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. at an angle from the head.” (Spencer, Des. Soc. Negritto and Malayo-Polynesian Races, pp. 20.) Featherman, A. (Social History of the Races of Mankind. London, 1887. 8vo.) Among the Melville Island tribes ‘‘ a roil of thin, silky bark serves as a pillow at night and asa seat in the day-time.” (Papuo-Melanesians, 2d divis., p. 120.) Featherman, A. (Social History of the Races of Mankind. London, 1887. 8vo.) The aboriginal Tasmanian women (Papuans) ‘‘throw over their shoulders the skin of an uutanned kangaroo or opossum,” in which they place their children “‘ when earry- ing them on the back.” (Papuo and Malayo Melanesians, 2d divis., p. 100.) ~ Cook, Captain. (Voyage towards the South Pole, etc., 1, p. 34.) Natives of Mal- licollo wear a belt which ‘‘they tie so tight over the belly that the shape of their bodies is not unlike that of an overgrown pismire.” (Spencer, Des. Soc. Negritto. and Malayo-Polynesian Races, p. 20.) Busk, George (Jour. Anthrop. Inst. Great Britain and Ireland, Jan., 1877) speaks of the ‘‘extreme flattening * * * of the frontal region” in certain Mallicollo skulls as “ artificial.” Cheever, H.T. ‘‘The unnatural flattening of the occiput” (in the Hawaiian head) ‘is thought to be owing to the way the mother holds her babe, which is by the left hand supporting the back of its head.” (Spencer, Des. Soc. Negritto and Malayo- Polynesian Races; pp. 20, 21.) Occipital flattening also promoted by the use of a mat pillow or one of wood. D’Albertis, L. M. (New Guinea. London, 1881. 8vo). On Yule Island ‘‘children werecarried * * * innetted bags, resting on the backs of their mothers, suspended. by a cord that passed round the women’s heads. * * * Their legs were small in proportion to their bodies.” (Vol. 1, p. 262.) Both on the coast and in the interior of Yule Island the natives wear a tight, broad belt, ‘‘sometimes woven on the body.” Compression from this results in distortion, giving the figure a “‘ very peculiar appear- ance.” (Vol. 11, p. 302.) Featherman, A. (Social History of the Races of Mankind. London, 1887. 8vo). State that the Riara women (Papuo-Melanesian group) carry their children ‘on their backs in a bag of net-work * * * suspended from the forehead bya band” (p.51). Other Papuans carry their infants in the “flap” of a cloak made of cocoa-nut fiber (p. 21). The Tasmanians carried them ‘‘ wrapped in a kangaroo-skin, which hung behind the back” (p. 21). United States Exploring Expedition (Wilkes). (4to. Vol. v1. ‘‘ Ethnography.” ' Horatio Hale. Philadelphia, 1846.) General remarks on prevalent occipital flatten- ing among Polynesians (p. 10). In connection with the references to occipital flattening among the Polynesians (a fact variously explained), but not in any case, so far, referred to the general custom of laying infants on hard mats in warm countries, and especially so in Oceanica, thus undesignedly compressing the head by its own weight, the following statements are made: Sir J. Bowring (Philippine Islands, London, 1859, 8vo) quotes the ethnolog- ical tables of Buzeta to the effect that the ‘‘ pure Indians” (Tagals) of the Philippines have this characteristic, whereas among the Mestizos and Negrittos it is uot mentioned (p. 176). Wood (Uncivilized Races of Men; Hartford, 1871; 8vo) states that in child- hood the Bushman skull exhibits excessive occipital projection, and this naturally (p. 249). Further, that the same is the case with the Ovambo at ali ages (p. 316). Finally, that marked convexity of the front as well as the back head distinguishes the Wahuma (p. 400). These facts, by themselves, cancel any inferences from the excep- tional contour of a single cranial bone unsupported by evidence of abnormal growth or mechanical interference. Hard mats and a wooden pillow explain the fact of occip- ital flattening, where a vertical occiput is not a decided race feature. Wallace, A. R. (Australasia, London, 1879, 12mo) quotes Captain Erskine to the effect that among the Polynesian or Mahori race it is the custom to flatten the nose during infancy (p. 493).. He remarks that the occipital flattening may be artificial ee OY eS ee ee a eee YS oe ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN. Jae (p. 494). Throughout this work and the ethnological appendix by Keane, there are no notices of distortion other than the above. On page 476 is a portrait of a ‘‘ chief of Vanitoro, Santa Cruz Islands,” whose skull appears to have been compressed and elevated by circular bandages. Pritchard W. T. (Polynesian Reminiscences. London, 1866. 8vo.) Without de- scribing the process, he states the fact that the Tongans, Samoans, and Fiji Islanders have the custom ‘‘of squeezing the heads of infants into * * * ashape in con- formity with their ideal of beauty” (p. 417). Remarks on contour of distorted skull (pp. 427, 428). Martin, Dr. J. (An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands. London, 1818. 8vo). On Yule Island ‘‘ children were carried in netted bags, resting on the backs of the mothers, suspended by a cord that passed round the women’s heads.” (Vol.1, p. 202.) Buller, J. (Forty Years in New Zealand. London, 1878. 12mo.) Description of nose-flattening and modification of shape of limbs by manipulation (pp. 215,216). Foster, Dr. J.R. (Observations made during a Voyage round the World. London, 1778. 4to). Noticeof antero-posterior depression of skull in Mallicollo (pp. 242, 267, 268). People of Tierra del Fuego, constantly in canoes, have ‘‘ the legs bent, the knees large, and the toes turned inwards” (pp. 251, 268). Remarks on nose-flattening in Tahiti (pp. 593, 594). Says Hottentots and natives of Macassar have same custom (p. 594). Foster describes the process of flattening the nose in Tahiti, and quotes his descrip- tion of the process used by the Hottentots and in Macassar from Gomara, Historia General de las Indias (pp. 593, 594). Turnbull, John (Voyage Round the World, London, 1813, 8vo) remarks that the noses of the Otaheitans are “universally flat, occasioned by pressure during their in- © fancy” (p. 344). Nothing further said. Ellis, William. (Polynesian Researches. London, 1829. 8vo.) ‘‘ During the period of infancy” in the Society and Caroline Islands ‘‘the children were seldom clothed, and were generally laid or carried in a horizontal position. They were never confined in bandages or wrapped in tight clothing.” In Tahiti ‘ the shape of the child’s head” and its features were carefully observed, and parents and nurses ‘‘often pressed or spread out the nostrils of the females, as a flat nose was considered by them a mark of beauty.” (Vol.1, p. 343.) In Tahiti ‘“‘the forehead and the back of the head of the boys were pressed upwards, so that the upper part of the skull appeared in the shape of a wedge. This, they said, was done to add to the terror of their aspect.” (Vol. 1, p. 343.) In general remarks on the ‘‘South Sea Islanders,” 7. e., natives of the Georgian, So- ciety, Caroline, ‘and adjacent isles,” Ellis says they ‘are generally above the middle stature,” but their limbs are not correspondingly muscular, though ‘‘ well formed.” In mountainous parts they have inturned feet and an “‘exceedingly awkward” gait, from using the naked feet in climbing rocks and ravines. Except when distorted, “the facial angle is frequently as perpendicular as in the European.” Nose-flattening is not so general as it was formerly, and the nose “is seldom flat,” but ‘‘ rectilinear or aquiline.” (Vol. 11, pp. 13-15.) The bed of the majority is a single mat. The chiefs have many. The pillow is wooden. (Vol. 11, p. 67.) On Carpentaria Gulf, Australia, the mothers flatten the nose of their young children by pressing it with the hand on the point and laying the child on its face. Dr. KarlScherzer. (Voyage of the Novara. London, 1863. 8vo. Vol.1.) Opin- ion that artificial flattening of occipital region prevails among women of Tahiti (p. 220). Remarks on artificial distortion of head on west coast of North and South America (ibid., pp. 347, 348, 393). Wood, J.G. (Uncivilized Races of Men. Hartford, 1871. 8vo.) Occipital flatten- ing and nose-flattening among the Tahitans, with description of the process (p. 1059). United States Exploring Expedition, i, 339. Method of carrying children illus- trated. 234 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Calvert, T. W.andJ. (Fijiand the Fijians, N.Y.,1>59, 8vo.) The bed of a chief, made on the banquette, ‘‘is covered with mats, varying in number from two to ten, and spread over a thick layer of dried grass and elastic ferns, while on them are placed two or three neat wooden or bamboo pillows” (p. 108). There was an elabo- rate form of general bed. An infant is ‘‘anointed with oil and tumerie,” but appar- ently not swathed in any way. The friends ‘‘plait small mats, measuring about 2 feet by 1, for the mother to nurse her babe upon.” ‘There is no notice that its bed is not like that described above (p. 138). ‘‘Natives nurse the child sitting quite naked astride the mother’s hip, where it is kept from falling by her arm” (p. 139). The Calverts also describe the nose as ‘‘ well shaped, with full nostrils, yet distinct from the negro type.” The ‘lower extremities” are ‘‘of the proportion generally found among white people.” The ‘‘mold of the body is decidedly European” (p. 82). Dr. Pickering (Races of Men, p. 147) says the Fijian crania are unique, have “rather the negro outline,” while ‘‘the profile” appears to be “as vertical, if not more so, than in the white race.” Nind,S. (Jour. Royal Geogr. Soc. London, 1832. 8vo. Vol.1.) Describing natives of King George’s Sound (Swan River colony), Australia, he says: ‘‘ For the first few weeks the child is carried on the left arm in a foid of the cloak, but subsequently is suspended on the shoulders” (p. 39). Foville, A. (Influence des Vétemens sur nos Organes, etc. Paris, 1834), describes cases of cranial deformity and mental incapacity produced by bandaging the head during infancy. Foville quotes Blumenbach (Collectio Craniorum) with reference to cases of antero- posterior flattening accompanied by occipital protrusion, and to instances of the pyramidal form of the Peruvian skull. He states that Turkish crania grooved by ligatures have been found. M. Virey (Art.-‘‘ Enfant,” Dic. des. Sci. Méd.) asserts that caps drawn tight by ribbons will ‘‘ force the head into a sugar-loaf shape, and produce idiocy” in infants. La Bret. (Compt. Rend. Soc. de Biologie. Paris, 1852, Iv, etseq.) Surla déformation artificielle du crdne en Amérique. The author gives arésumé of the opinions of well- known writers on the production of cranial deformity by artificial means in North and South America. ; Guéniot (Bull. Soc. de Chir. de Paris, 1870, 2d Ser. x, 382 et seq.), ‘‘ Obliquité par propulsion unilatérale,” describes a case of flattening of the occipito-parietal region on one side, accompanied by corresponding projection of the other, due to constant position of the head on a hard surface during infancy. ? Dr. J. Thurnam (On Synostosis of the Cranial Bones. London, 1865), describes a brachyeephalous skull from the Reund Barrows, with a broad, shallow depression passing behind the coronal suture, and over the occiput in the line of the transverse spine. This was evidently the effect of some kind of head-dress ; probably, one such as MM. Foville and Lunier has described as now in use in France. L. A. Gossei (Essai sur les déformations artificielles du crine. Paris,1855. Ack- ermann. Neues Magazin von Baldringer, Bd. 2, p.5), says, ‘‘ Hune morem in Germania satis usitatum esse et Laurenberg; etiam Hamburgensis capita neonatorum vinculis artificiose compressisse.” Schade, J. De Singulari cranii cujusdum deformitate. Gryphie, 1858, 11.” Idem. Lunier (Essai sur les déformations artificielles du crane. Gosse. Paris, 1865), refers to this custom as prevailing in the Franco-Gallic Provinces, and adds, “ Itague hand difficile intellectu videtur, forsitan etiam hujus cranii deformitatem ca causa affectam esse.” 11. Idem. Andry (Gosse’s essai) reports the same in Flanders. Shadel recognizes the intra-uterine causes, and for the most part occupies himself with distortion due to affections of the sutures, following Hyrtl, Stahl, and Virchow. Case of what Guéniot calls Obliquité par propulsion unilatérale, “‘ reported by M. Mocquet. (Bull, Soc. Anat. de Paris, 1375, 1. 56.) Cause stated to be in all such cases, Se” ee ¥ poae 2 eee a _ a e e pene a ARTIFICIAL DEFORMATION OF CHILDREN, 235 or most, prolonged pressure over occipito-parietal region from hard pillow, and posi- tion and weight of head. Bourke, Capt. John G. (Snake-Dance of the Moquis, New York, 1884), describes ‘cradles of flat boards, with a semi-circular screen for the head. | These differ among the Moquis in no essential from the ordinary cradle-board of the North American Indians. When the child is placed on it it is wrapped up tightly in pee, with its arms pinioned tightly to its sides” (pp. 240, 241(. Vambéry, A. (Sketches of Central Asia. London, 1868). Swaddling clothes are here in Danetal use, and the kindik kesen, or cutter of the same, is a person of much consequence, because the act of cutting these out is accompanied by many ceremo- nial observances. WVambéry seems to indicate, however, that the child is not swathed for any length of time. Harris, Maj. W. C. (Highlands of Ethiopia. London, 1844). The beaux of the Dankalis and Somalis, at Tajura, ‘‘employ in lieuof a pillow a small wooden bolster, shaped like a crutch-handle, which receives the neck * * * and preserves the periwig from derangement” (1, p. 58). D’Albertis, L. M. (New Guinea). ‘Great varieties of type, in color, physiognomy, and in the shape of the skull,” are found on Pangian Island. Here it is observed that parietal compression protrudes the supra-orbital arches (i, p. 29). The same statements may, he says, be made of the natives at Orangerie Bay (1, p. 97). Along the whole line, from Sorong to Dorey, the nose varied in form from flat to aquiline (1, p. 210). In his plate of the mummified head got from Darnley Island, Torres Straits, the type is macrocephalous. Blake, Dr. Carter (Appendix Unexplored Syria, Burton & Drake. London, 1872), describes a female skull from the Dayr Mar Miss el Habashi showing artificial ‘‘com- pression of the parietal bones,” probably caused by use of the ‘‘suckling-board.” | Davis. (Collection of Voyages and Travels, ete. London, 1745). ‘In Morria, a small, low island, lying in the river of the Amazons,” children are thus carried: “They take a piece of the rind of a tree, and with one end thereof they fasten the child’s head, and about the arm-pits and shoulders with the other, and so hang it on their backs like a tinker’s budget” (0, p. 487). Dawkins, W. Boyd. (Cave Hunting. London, 1874). Refers to Professor Busk’s notes on the crania of Perthi-Chwaren, in which a skull with “a well-marked de- pression across the middle of the occipital bone” is described. This depression had the appearance of being “‘caused by the constriction of a bandage.” Except this deformation the skull was ‘‘ well formed and symmetrical,” not having any of the contours of the téte annulaire, due, according to MM. Foville and Gosse, to occipital compression (p. 170). Professor Busk states, in his ethnological notes (Cave Hunting), that the Berber contingent of the Moorish invaders of Europe in the eighth, ninth, and tenth cen- turies ‘‘used to elongate the skull posteriorly and flatten the head” (pp. 170, 171). _ In the same work Professor Dawkins suggests that the flattened occiput of the brachycephalous invaders of neolithic Britain ‘‘may have been caused by the use of an unyielding cradle-board in infancy” (p. 193). Evidently the flattened vertex of the Sclaigneaux cave was not natural (p. 219). THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN, By Otis T. Mason. I never see a great passenger or express train approaching a station without thinking of the long and tiresome experiences through which the human mind has passed upward to this concrete climax of inven- tions. I take my stand as near as safety will allow, that I may drink in the eddies of the boiling atmosphere with the aroma of civilization which it represents. There is something wonderful in the iron horse—his glaring head- light, irresistible momentum, extreme docility. On the platform of the locomotive stands the controlling mind, the engineer, one hand upon a lever, which sets in motion all this ponderous mass at the rate of even a mile a minute, as Cicero says, ‘“‘quadam inclinatione corporis.” His other hand rests upon the air-brake, by means of which he controls the momentum of 500 tons, reducing it at will to absolute rest. Who has not imagined, as he whirled along on one of these trains, that he could hear the measured hoof-beats of this horse of progress striking the ties or the iron rails? If we consider all the industries and motives involved in this man’s activity, the myriad trades and occupations invoked in the manufacture of train and track, the multitudinous avocations ac- commodated by and stimulating his movements, the infinite variety of freight, animate and inanimate; bags of letters, the messengers of every want and emotion; an endless caravan of passengers of every class - of humanity on every possible errand, representing all commercial de- signs, social and civil structures and functions, we shall have an example of the climax of human endeavor in its most highly organized condition relative to a long series of inventions, of which this is only the intro- ductory chapter. Besides these there are thousands of other occupations, in which carrying is neither directly nor remotely interested, wherein man’s handiwork has preceded, initiated, and kept up the higher utili- zation of animals and of natural forces. But we are not concerned at the present moment so much with the tedious and varied manipulations by which the railway train has been manufactured from the forest and the mine (that would be its ontogeny) as with the millenniums of change through which a common human 237 238 ; REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. back-strap or head-band has passed upward through inventive creation into the train and track, the latest common carrier (which constitutes the phylogeny of the railway). At the lower end of this line of inventions and experiences, neglecting all the mental burdens which often weigh heavier on us than our packs, as we pass downward ignoring wagon trains, mule trains, caravans, couriers, pack-horses, dog travois and sleds, reindeer sledges, donkeys, llamas, and other beasts of burden, we come at last to the primitive common carrier, the pack-man himself, and also the pack-woman, for men and women were the first beasts of burden.* Primitive commerce and all the carrying and running involved in primeval arts connected with food, shelter, clothing, rest, enjoyment, and war were accomplished on the heads or foreheads, shoulders or backs, or in the hands of men and women, and civilization, while it has invented many ways of burden-bearing, finds also an endless variety of uses for the old methods. How many thousands of our fellow-creatures are still in this condition of mere beasts of burden? It is, for instance, only a few years since the invention of the passenger and freight ele- vator began to supplant that train of “ hod-carriers,” who have been since the beginning of architecture carrying upward to its completion every wooden and brick structure in the world. To get something like an adequate conception of the enormous amount of labor performed by human backs, calculate the weight of every earth- work, mound, fort, canal, embankment, wooden, brick, metal, and stone structure and fabrication on earth. ‘These have all been carried many times and elevated by human muscle. In the light of this con- templation, Atlas, son of Heaven and Earth, supporting on his shoul- ders the pillars of the sky, is the apotheosis of the human son of toil, and the gaping wonder of archeologists over the hand-made stract- ures of Thebes, Palenque, Carnac, and Salisbury Plain subsides to the level of a mathematical problem. Indeed, the great majority of earth- works, mounds, menhirs, cairns, cromlechs, and dolmens now to be seen witnessed the exertions of no other artisan than the human earrier.t In the Internationale Archiv fiir Ethnographie, Plate Ix, is a street scene in Singapore. The first thing that arrests the attention is that everybody is carrying something or is harnessed to something. Com- inencing at the left hand occur the following: (1) Two coolies carrying a lady in a hammock. (2) Two coolies carrying a live pig in a bamboo cylinder suspended to a pole. (3) A lady carrying a fan and a reticule. *Innumerable examples of women as burden-bearers may be cited. See Schooleraft, Archives, vol. v1, plate opp. p. 560; J. G. Wood, Unciv. Races, vol. I, p. 330, eé seq. +Cf. Lucien Carr, Mounds of the Mississippi Valey, p. 90, for a calculation of the time required to build an earth mound. Reference is made to the coal-carriers iv St. Thomas, and to a paragraph by Isaac McCoy in the History of the Baptist Indian Missions, p. 27, for the capabilities in this line of a single tribe of Indians, THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 239 (4) A cooliecarrying on his right shoulder a pole; from one end dangles a box, from the other a basket. Indeed, there are three men hitched in this fashion in the foreground. (5) A man dragging a small truck loaded with bundles. (6) A coolie carrying a furnace on the end of a stick resting on his shoulder, as a peddler does his pack. (7) A coolie drawing a jinrickasha. (8) A Chinese gentleman carrying a fan and a cane. Considering the activity now displayed in transporting men and pro- ductions from one part of the earth to another, it will not be a valueless contribution to science if we trace the natural history of those early occupations and industries, the improvement of whose apparatus and methods stimulated the pristine inventors to make their burdens lighter, to enable the human carrier to bear the load with greater ease, to ren- der his pack: weight proportionate to the length of his journeys, and to adapt his occupation to the ever new exigencies of his environment. It is a common saying that we must go to nature for our supplies. Equally true is it that we go in vain, unless we descend to the condi- tion of the brutes, if we expect nature to supply us with aught else than that whereon we may exercise fhe inventive faculty. Indeed, there are innumerable examples of animals transporting materials to distant places in order to utilize them. The beaver, the bird, the lamprey eel, the bee, the ant are all carriers.* Many animals also modify natural objects for the purpose of using them, But the two ideas of modifying a natural object for the purpose of making a carrying tool seem to con- cur only in the human mind. We are the only animals that modify nature to produce a carrying device. Again, these creatures all carry their implements and weapons with them as part of their natural en- dowment; they do not have to invent them. But the farmer, the arti- san, the professional man, even the laborers go about weighted down, with their tools, apparatus, books, or even their carrying implements as ponderous often as the trunk and tusks are to the elephant. There are two sets of ideas involved in harnessing the human jument, which may be studied in part separately, in part together. They are conveyance and transportation, or the carrying of the man and the carry- ing of things. The former may be older, for devices in which to carry infants may have been the first in the order of invention. The passen- ger and the freight train express the two ideas exactly, because each, while encroaching on the function of the other, has modifications for its ownends. The subject of mere locomotion involving snow-shoes, canes, Staves, alpenstocks, stilts, crutches, and the like will not be here con- sidered, because they are only aids to locomotion and involve little that relates to the beast of burden. The cradle-board and other devices for carrying infants will also be *For comparison of the engineering skill of beavers and ants with that of the mound- builders, cf. Lucien Carr, ‘‘The Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” p. 66. 240 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. the theme of a separate chapter, inasmuch as other ideas are involved, but the methods of human conveyance on the backs of bearers among people not highly civilized will receive brief mention. Many other industries have been created, stimulated and modified by the carrying trade. Every one will have a dozen suggested by the mere mention of the subject. One has lately come to the writer’s notice, which will serve as a very primitiveexample. The erudest agriculture in the world is practiced by the Pimasand contiguous tribes in southern- most California to procure gourds for the transportation of seeds and water. The women, accompanied by a body-guard of men, go, in the spring time, to the bluffs or rocky slopes, where a little rich, moist earth fills the crevices, and therein, by the help of a sharpened stick, they insert their gourd seed. In the autumn the women return to these spots to gather the large gourds hanging from their natural trellis, and from them supply their households with a variety of utensils. So the carrier is patron to the farmer. In the same way has the carrier stood friend to the potter. Among the Pueblos and other pottery-making peoples hundreds of jars are made to be carried on the head or to be swung from the shoulder in a yoke. The potter molds his vase at the order and convenience of the carrier. Basketry has also lent its services largely to the carrying industry, and in turn has assumed a multitude of shapes and textures demanded by this occupation alone. In the National Museum, at Washington, gathered from many parts of the world, are a great variety of devices designed exclusively to facilitate the carrying of burdens by mankind. There are many others in various parts of the world quite as important. We may approach our task from different points of view, guided by a variety of ruling concepts. It is possible to consider the subject geo- graphically. I was delighted to find this fact recognized by Plato :* “CLEINIAS: Look-at the character of our country. Crete is not like Thessaly, a large plain, and for this reason they have horses there and we haverunners on foot here. Theinequality of the ground in our coun- try is more adapted to locomotion afoot.” The word “ geography” as here used applies to all natural payee to materials used in constructing appliances, and to objects carried. Or we may view the subject ethnically, in relation to tribal patterns, customs, and the prejudices of clan, class, or sex. Or it may be regarded nationally, with reference to the regulations concerning carriers under the same government and treaties relating thereto between different political bodies. A philogenetic method would lead us to scrutinize the various ways of carrying in relation to the influence of one invention in giving birth to another or in some way modifying the form of another, either in the same category or in other categories. * Laws N. Y. (1873), Scribner, vol. Iv, p. 156. q : 1 A, THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 241 An interesting method of study would be by crafts, and it would en- list the co-operation of many searchers. For instance, we might ask the fur trader of Hudson Bay territory to tell us all the ways of carrying peltry that his land had seen, from packing up to the Red River cart. In like manner the emigrant over the earth, the peddler or merchant, the woodman, the miner, the fisherman, the farmer could each tell us a wonderful story, beginning with a very simple process and winding up with a story worthy of the Arabian Nights; or, finally, our thoughts could be arranged progressionally in relation to the phenomena, inciud- ing both what some call natural evolution and also technical elabora- tion or design. One of the most interesting chapters in the history is that which por- trays the methods of hitching up this animal of burden, the parts of the body utilized, the harness adopted, and the adaptation of these to the burden, the country, and, in short, all the exigencies of the case. With this one idea in mind look carefully over the great works devoted to the ancient monuments of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome, or turn the leaves of pictorial journals and books of travel, and the variety of ways by which man has grown equal to his burden will be astonishing. As the study of railroading includes the engine or motor, the train or burden, the road and the signal, no less does the consideration of the original freightman or pappoose-carrier involve the person, the load, the trail, and the primitive signal. Indeed, the germ of the latest pas- senger and freight train was in the first human burden-bearer. The task of duly appreciating rude inventions is not easy, and some of thestatements herein made may seem trivial. Living in the enjoyment of so many privileges in the matter of conveyance and transportation, we Shall find it hard to realize the former condition of things unless we transport ourselves to savage and barbarous lands or out-of-the-way country places. In a thriving city one no longer thinks of walking. _ The cheapest hand laborers ride to their work in cars of palatial splendor drawn by horses, steam, or electricity. Men and women flit around on cycles. It is considered vulgar to carry a parcel. The servant girl buys a few cents’ worth of tawdry stuff and has it brought to her in a parcel-dispatch wagon that is covered with forty coats of lacquer. Everywhere the old régime is changed in our civilization. We get an inadequate conception of the early history of human backs by contem- plating the service that nature is at present rendering to the comfort and convenience of our race. It would hardly be worth while to mention the clothing and adorn- ment of mankind as a load to be carried, were it not for the fact that in some cases, such asthe brass wire of the Africans and the mail of the medizval knight,* as much as one hundred pounds are borne by a single individual. Counting all humanity, it is safe to say that two millions of tons of apparel and personal ornament are constantly worn to supply ve} Cf, Mey rich, or Hewitt, or Demmin, H, Mis, 600, pty 2——16 242 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. artificially what nature has given gratis to other animals, either in the way of hair or wool to keep them warm, or plumage to increase their at- tractions. It is impossible to enumerate every form of burden-bearing, but to show the almost endless variety in which inventive genius has dis- played itself in loading the human body, the following enumeration is introduced : METHODS OF BEARING BURDENS. 1. In the hand.—This method is universal. In the house, at the sta- . tion, on the street, wherever one turns, light parcels are flitting in every direction, which in the aggregate amounts to an enormous mass, carried principally in the right hand. At the other end of human history the act repeats itself. For we can scarcely frame a conception of man pri- meval without a club or stone weapon or rude spear in one hand, and here again the right hand has been selected to do the work.* 2. In both hands.—It is really easier to carry in both hands than in one, even though the load be larger. So it is a common sight to seea man or a woman dividing the luggage into two parcels, bearing two buckets or baskets, sometimes-held apart with a hoop. In raising a load to the shoulders both hands are used. It is amusing to watch the pot- ters on the Egyptian monuments—to see the multiplicity of attitudes they assume in the application of the two hands to burden-bearing. 3. On the fingers.—Tuis is a kind of fine art in carrying. In the old descriptions and pictures of royal cup-bearers the salver is delicately poised on three fingers. The climax of this plan is the summer-resort waiter’s feat of bringing the food of half a dozen individuals borne aloft on the ends of his fingers in a huge tray. 4. With a baldric.—The modern tourist hangs his opera-glass, satchel, haversack, etc., to a strap passing over one shoulder aud under the op- posite arm. The hunter carries his game-bag in a similar manner. Among hurdy-gurdy players and fruit-peddlers the strap hangs on the back of the neck and the load rests against the stomach. The hands are then free to make music, handle the merchandise, or even to help in carrying the load. The baldric is now a military ornament especially, and may never have had extensive use among savages. 5, Hung to a belt.—Combining the belt with the baldric, the soldier carries his weapons. It is common to See small objects hung to a belt before, behind, or on either side. This is not an easy way to carry ¢ heavy burden; yet among semi-civilized peoples it is the place for trans- porting treasures—in short, the first step in the insurance of carrying treasures. Also, the broad sash of many peoples serves admirably for holding children, victuals, weapons, papers, and things not to be exposed. *The writer hasexamined a great many savage weapons and tools that will fit only one hand. The proportion of left-handed is not more than one in fifty for men, and he has never seen a left-handed woman’s implement. ee ee i THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 243 6. On the arm.—This might be called the retail method of carrying. One sees every moment about the farm boys and men using this method of carrying, and on the busy street multitudes of men, women, and children are ever flitting to and fro with loads. These vary from afew ounces to several pounds, and are borne under the arm, on the forearm, on both forearms. In the stores it is the same thing. The arm seems to be the vehicle for retail conveyance. To vary this style a little we must inerease the load and basket and watch the market people as they trudge along with 50 pounds of food hung on the elbow, resting on the hip, and the body bent to get the center of gravity poised exactly. The writer has never seen in any book of travels a savage man with a load hung to his arm like a great hook and himself twisted around so as to throw a part of the weight upon his hip. This must be a product of civilization. 7, Hung from the shoulders.—This is the favorite devine of farmers and others who carry smallloadsinabag. One ofthe indelible recollections of country life is of the farm hand carrying grain, plaster, and other things about the premises in a sack suspended from his shoulders. The same man on Saturday afternoon trudges homeward from the mill and the store with the week’s provisions for his family carried in the same manner. The peddler of small wares, the laborer moving with his little property, the hunter returning with his game, the woman of southern climes with her child, all are examples of the importance of the shoulder in the economy of transportation when used merely as an accessory to the back. The universal sack of the negro population of the rural districts in the Southern United States as a receptacle for everything, is a good example of this method of carrying, which has come down to us from the remotest antiquity. Travelers state that a Peruvian miner will ascend 100 or more feet of a rude ladder with 300 pounds of ore in a skin bag hung from his shoulder. 8. On the shoulder.—The shoulder alone plays a leadipg part in trans- portation. There is no lack of examples of women pursuing this method. The miller takes a sack of grain on his shoulder, places his palm on his hip, and moves on to his hopper, or he reverses the Brees with a sack of flour from the milli to the farmer’s wagon. In great shipping houses lines of porters carry sacks of grain to the ship in the same way. Again, the hod-carrier, antecedent of all modern elevators, with 75 to 100 pounds of brick or mortar on his back, has been for ages all over the world transporting upward the material of the builder. Look, moreover, at the coolies of the Orient. More than a million Chinese make their living as professional carriers. In the cities are the porters and others who carry rice, etc., on the shoulder in sacks or bur- dens upon a pole, half the weight at either end. Writes a friend: “The average load of a coolie is 100 pounds, and with this he travels « 244 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 30 miles. Kinkiang is an important place for the export of tea. The tea districts are situated about 60 miles from the town, and the coolies bring in the chests in two days, each man carrying a load of 100 pounds. The weight of a load and the distance over which a coolie travels may be different in the north and south. I have not been able to make in- quiries elsewhere but at this port.” In Shanghai 140 pounds is an ordinary burden. For long distances 100 pounds is the load and 20 miles the ordinary day’s journey. The bearer has a staff in his hand and rests ad libitum by balancing his bur- den on top. One hundred pounds 20 miles equals a ton a mile per day. Now, if there are a million coolies, there are each day in China 1,060,000 tons of freight: moved 1 mile on the backs of professional carriers. The ancient Egyptians practiced this moce of carrying extensively. 9. On the scapule.—The grain carriers or lumpers who load vessels ‘with wheat or corn may frequently be seen with a full sack resting on top of their backs. They run up a plank to the hatch, toss the sack in the air, mouth downwards, and catch the lower corners so as to save - the sack and dump the grain into the hold. The English porters and furniture men have a knot, padded with something soft, which they place around the forehead and on the scapula. They are then ready to take on the largest pieces of furni- ture, such as bureaus, sideboards, etc. The higher form of this art of carrying on the scapule is the Holland yoke, a device which enables the bearer to bring the hands into play. 10. On the back.—The back is the natural resting place for the bur- den. The lowest savages know this, and inventive genius early began to devise apparatus for harnessing this part of the body. In Africa, on the Andes, in Mexico, throughout the civilized world, the peaceable earrier bears on his back the commerce of the race. The load is held in place either by the forehead strap, the breast strap, the shoulder strap, or by two or more of these combined. Bock, in his ‘‘ Head-hunters of Borneo,” represents a carrier using both the head band and the sboul- der straps aS in knapsack carrying. In war the soldier fastens his knapsack to his back and shoulders, leaving his arms free to do their work. There are many patent devices for distributing the soldier’s load over the shoulders, breast, back, and hips. For obvious reasons his hips are left free. Children play at pick-a-pack, passengers are landed in shallow ports, persons of means pass over difficult places in the man- ner described by Cassius: I, as Aineas, our great ancestor, Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Cesar. The burdens of Kurdish women are thus graphically described : ‘¢ Soon we came to a place where the road was washed away, and we were obliged to go around, We saw a woman there with a loaded ee oe ee ee og ee ee 7 “> a= . ra bk ees THE HUMAN BEAST. OF BURDEN. 245 ~ donkey which could not pass with its load; the woman took the load on her own back and carried it over, and then led the donkey over. She also carried a load of at least 100 pounds, and she had a spindle in her hands. Thus she went spinning and singing over the rugged way which I had passed with tears and pain. * * * In the evening they spin and make sandals; when they lie down, they place under their heads the ropes to bind the heavy loads of grass and wood which they bring down from the mountains. After midnight they go up to get loads. * * * Jn the early morning I often saw the women, looking like loaded beasts, coming down the precipitous mountain path, one after the other, singing and spinning as they came. * * * Isaw women with great paniers on their backs and babies on top of these or in their arms, going four days over that fearful Ishtazin pass, carrying grapes for sale and bringing back grain. Men said the women must suffer much more before God could forgive Eve’s sin. “A few years ago a woman from Jeloo came to my home in Genera: Her husband, who was almost a giant, sickened in Gawar, and she told me she had carried him on her back all the way, four days’ journey. He died in our house. I did not believe her then; now I do, for my eyes have seen what loads these women carry.”* ; 11. On the head.—This process is usually called toting, and is espe- cially characteristic of woment of the lower classes and of negroes.{ The traveler may see the dairy-maids anywhere in Europe carrying 25 pounds of milk on the head, women in Iceland carrying loads of unsavory cod- fish on their heads, ait Italian peddlers of all sorts use the head for a carriage. In the southern part of the United States 50 pounds is the ““toter’s” steady load. Men and women constantly bear that amount. A slater’s assistant mounts a ladder with 50 pounds of slate on the head. The farm woman totes a tub of water holding 10 gallons, the whole weight being 100 pounds. The head-ring is seen among the Zuni In- dians as a means of keeping the load on the head and relieving the pressure. Pads of various kinds replace the ring where toting is for long distances.§ 12. The forehead and the bregma are also parts on which to hang har- ness. In civilization the yoke has passed from the forehead of the ox to his seapule. Comparing the head-strap of all our Indian tribes with the neck-yoke of the Holland woman, it is permitted to see the same * Woman’s Work for Women, November, 1888, p. 296. t See illustration of Kaffir women carrying fagots in Wood’s “‘ Unciv. Races, vol. 1, 91; : { “All along the road we met numbers of men, women, and children going to the Badagry market, with palm-oil, corn, yams, fowls, fire-wood, etc., which they carried in heavy loads on their heads, according to the universal custom of this country, though the Golahs and others in that region carry -urdens on their backs.” (Bowen, Cent. Africa, p. 103.) § Wood mentions the Bechuana habit of ‘‘ bogale,” or drilling young girls in carry- ing loads of wood long distances and jars of water without spilling a ‘ina: (Unciv. Races, 1, p. 26.) DAG he REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. process of improvement antedating the domestication of the ox, and pos- sibly suggesting his harness. 13. In pockets.—This method of conveyance is scarcely worth mention- ing from the civilized point of view; yet, when we consider the endless variety of small merchandise carried in the pockets of men and women, and remember that all these pockets are for no other purpcse than to serve as instruments of transportation, we can not omit including it. We must remember also that the Oriental, especially the Corean, has pockets in his sleeves having the capacity of a half bushel. The Turk and the Arab stow away as much as this in the ample folds of their robes, and any boy who has stolen fruit can add his testimony. 14. Men combined.—Two men bearing a log or burden on their shoul- ders, four or six men carrying a bier or stretcher,* sailors hoisting to the rhythm of a song or “Ohyea,” two or more men with a palankin borne among them, a set of bearers in Madagascar and elsewhere with relays, a company or a regiment of men carrying an immense stone in India, as figured by Count Wurmbrand, a lot of men setting up a barn frame or telegraph pole, all illustrate the utility of combined effort to transport a heavy mass. There is no doubt that the great works of modern times, whose existence and utility depend entirely upon the co-working of thousands to make and to maintain them, were fore- shadowéd and completely outlined in the days when hand-work alone was the force employed. Herodotus ascribes the beginning of the first canal between the Nile and the Red Sea to Neku, and the completion to Darius, the Persian. A hundred and twenty thousand Egyptians lost their lives in Neku’s reign.t Peons entering some Mexican city or slave trains from the heart of Africa often reveal a long row of men and women co-operating in carrying a great weight. The same is true of the pulley, answering to a compound hod, by means of which one - man transports a single weight much too heavy for one.t In an account of Cheops’ causeway, “some were required to drag blocks of stone down to the Nile; others drew them to the range of hills called Libyan; a hundred thousand men eat bread constantly, and were relieved every three months by a fresh lot.”§ In Munich those who carry large sacks use an implement like M to grasp, as it hurts the hands to lock fingers under the end of the sack. They stand face to face and grasp the rounded sides of this wooden buckle, slide it under the sack, lift it up, and steady it with the free hand, which carries it along and gives it a toss in unloading.|| In this country men carry pianos by means of a *Rawlinson’s Herodotus, 1, 77, figure. The transportation of the disabled with reference to conveyance by human bearers. By James E. Pilcher, M.D., Ph. D. J. Mil. Serv. Inst., 1x (1888), 222-242. +t Rawlinson’s Herodotus, 11, 158, with notes. ¢ Rawlinson’s Herodotus, 11, 124, § Rawlinson’s Herodotus, 11, 277; 111, 377. || Theo. A. Mills. See Prescott, Conquest of Mexico (Philad., 1874, 1, 145) for the transportation of the calendar stone from the mountains beyond lake Chaleo, a dis- tance of many leagues, over a broken country intersected by water-courses and canals, ’ ‘ THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. Beas 37h shoulder-strap and a peg that goes into the hole left by unscrewing the legs. Two men can carry a piano thus. 15. Hauling.—The simplest form of traction among men may be seen in the small boy dragging his wagon or sledge. With the arms alone for traces the primitive man dragged his game over the ground or ice to his distant home. Even two or more might co-operate in this prime- val team. The next step would be the use of a line, perhaps of raw- hide, perhaps of fiber. Along the edge of some quiet water they walked, those pristine tow-men, dragging their rafts or rude boats from the pebbly beach. Here began that immense industry now carried on in the canals of the world. . The ways of fastening one’s self to this traction or tow line are many.* The simplest is the grasp of the hand. Others may be seen bending to their work with the line over the shoulder, around the waist, or tied to a becket or bricole. A curious variety of this tracking is seen on Russian rivers, where an anchor is carried up-stream in a small boat and dropped. ‘The cable passes back to a windlass or a heavy barge, by which the great mass is moved up to theanchor. = ra Sai ha Sn ee te OME ae ee Ta pre fe Phat |e Cf teal BS THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 265 it dried. On the deserts of southern Arizona one has to goa long way for food and fuel. It is a common thing, says Dr. Palmer, to see a Mo- have woman coming in with this great basket stacked full of mesquite- bean pods, to be broken up and ground into meal when they are dry. The head-band is made of coarse rags, made into a pad at the center for the forehead. | Contiguous to the Mohaves, and belonging to the same Yuman stock, are the Pimas. (By some writers the Pimas are relegated toa separate stock.) Their arts are similar to those of the Mohaves. In the example of carrying-basket figured four rude sticks form the uprights. The netting is formed by a continuous coil of yucca-fiber thread caught into the coil beneath it. When this material is pressed flat it has the ap- pearance given by the drawing (Fig. 5s). The head-band and the staff (which also serves to support the carrying-basket when the porter is resting) complete the outfit. The form of stitch here seen looks like the boundary between the hard coil of the California and interior basketry on the one side, and the more elab- orate net-work of Mexico and Central America. From the same region Dr. Palmer has collected three specimens of a still more elaborate device for carrying. It consists of a frame-work of four sticks, two of which project down- ward for legs. These sticks are attached to a hoop, which holds them in place above, but they extend some dis- tance above the hoop, like standards on a wagon, to hold a top load of all sorts of light material. There isa pad of cane fabric attached to the portion of the appara- tus next to the back, and a broad head-band also, which Fig. 9. can be used on occasion (Fig. CARRYING OUTFIT. 9). The net-work of these (Cat. No. 76033, U.S. N. M. Pima Indians, California, Collected by Edward Palmer. MN Ue Be baskets is very delicately wrought. In reality the coarse yucca thread is coiled, as in the last ex- ample, but all sorts of straight or zigzag bands are produced by making a whole turn in the thread before passing downward, through the next Stitch of the uuderlying coil. This work is done witb a needle and thread, as one may see the carrying nets and bags made in Central , 266 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. America or the snow-shoes furnished with sinew among the Eskimos. - The latter use a double-pointed needle, with the thread hole in the mid- dle, but the natives of Central America and Mexico employ a needle of wood or bone about 4 inches long and one-tenth inch in thickuess. Around the uprights of this specimen are ropes for lashing on the load, and a staff, with a crutch at top, serves the double purpose of a cane and a rest. : . In a former paragraph allusion was made to the correlation of primi- tive agriculture with transportation. At the borders of Mexico gourds raised by rude processes begin to appear as vessels. In the example here figured a long gourd, holding a gallon or more, is inclosed in a net-work of yucca twine, laid on in coils, with half hitches above, and. with the standard open net-work below (Fig. 10). A bandolier of com- mon rag furnishes the carrying-strap. This specimen was collected from the Pimas by Dr. Palmer. The Diegenos belong to the Yuman stock, and dwell about San Diego, California. A rude carrying basket or wallet, collected by Dr. Palmer, is made of sticks in open work, held in place by a series of twined weft (Fig. 11). The handle is a common bale of string. There is noth- re Milne ea ace psa re Fh i y A WALA TF) ee ee Zt a ane WW ea \ =) Vide ane L000 a Hann Vignes a. rere ee ELLE ao aU ae aINITEE Hl 7 iB MEN EE? iy ae pe Bey) ote =p Hale 3 AZAR es a | Sais x . SSS? Fig. 10. CARRYING-GOURD, (Cat. No. 76047, U. S. N. M. Pima Indians. Colorado River, Arizona. Collected by (Cat. No. 19742, U.S.N.M. Diegenos Indians. San Diego, Cali- Edward Palmer. ) fornia. Collected by Edward Palmer. ) Fig. 11. BASKET FOR CACTUS-FRUIT, UTC. ing striking about the specimen, excepting the occurrence of twined weaving so far south. It will be remembered from former studies that this style of textile gives place to the coil in northern California, In THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 267 the Great Interior Basin the Shoshonian stock have carried it much further southward, and even to the Pacific Ocean in southrn California. The Shoshonian stock, especially the central tribes in Utah, are agri- eulturists in a crude fashion. The women gather the seeds of fifty or more plants, fan out the chaff ina basketry tray, elsewhere described, _ grind the seeds on a flat slab with a muller, and of the meal make - eakes or mush. The gathering-basket in which this harvest is collected and transported is shown in the accompanying figures (12, 13). This Fig. 13. UTE TYPE OF HARVESTING-BASKET AND FAN, HARVESTING-BASKET, USED BY ALL TRIBES IN USED BY ALL OTHER TRIBES; ALSO IN THE COLORADO, UTAH, AND NEVADA. GREAT INTERIOR BASIN. (Cat. No. 14664, U. S, N. M.) (Cat. No. 42155, U.S. N. M. Collected by James Stevenson. ) - conical receptacle is held with the point on the ground and the rim close _ tothe plants. The female harvester holds the gathering-basket with her left hand, and by means of a coarse fan held in the right hand beats the seed into the receptacle. The carrying-strap of soft buckskin is passed across the forehead to hold the basket high on the back. Thus burdened the Ute pack-woman trudges home to change her craft from the burden-bearer to the miller and the baker. The carrying-bas- ket of the Utes is made in twined weaving. The pattern is varied according to the number of warp-sticks included within each turn. The simplest incloses each rod separately; another style takes in two, _ and the twines are always between the same pairs of warp twigs. A third style imitates diagonal or twill by including a different set of rods - oOneach round. This has been described in another place. (Smithson. _ Rep. 1884, Pt. 11.) 268 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. The Utes have no pottery except what they have borrowed. Not to be defeated, however, in a matter so necessary to their happiness, their ingenuity has been equal to the occasion. Both the Utes and the Apaches make bottles and jars of twigs (Fig. 14) holding from half a pint to many gallons. These they calk with hot pitch until they are perfectly water-tight. On the side of this primitive demijohn lugs or tana SH) se ees (DE ete L = y - D—THy ay Mths Sah vt ahs Ve A i SN Sele LET Be RE” Fig. 14. San CARLOS APACHE WOMAN CARRYING WATER IN A WICKER JAR LINED WITH PITCH. (From a photograph in the U. S. National Museum.) loops are fastened, and a soft buckskin head-band served through these enables Aquaria to bring often from a great distance water, seeds, and other necessaries. The use of the carrying-net is not common in America. Major Powell brought from Utah in 1874 a large collection to illustrate the life of the tribes there. The Utes, and indeed the tribes south of them, employ the net to catch rabbits and other small game. They know also how to turn the net into a carrying appliance. (Fig. 15.) One of the devices is here shown. The knot here used is the standard mesh-knot found all over the world, and it is interesting to find it here among the savages of Utah. , In northwestern Arizona are the Moki Pueblos. The westernmost of these, Oraibi, is celebrated for its basketry. In addition to the twined THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 269 and coiled work, which they practice in common with their neighbors and blood kindred, the Utes, though with vastly greater taste and skill, they have somewhere learned the art of making true wicker-work. (Fig.16.) Thisisindeed rare west of the Rocky Mountains. Two speci- -mnens are here figured, the one coarse and holding over a bushel, the other fine and having the capacity of a peck. Both of them are carried by means of ahead-band. The wicker is based on a warp of rigid twigs, in bunches of twos or threes. The woof is made up of twigs passing alternately over and under the warp. In fact, it would be more correct to call the bent twigs the warp, because they are alternately raised and TF ZN a ————- TAN Fig. 15, Fig. 16. CARRYING-NET. ““CARRYING-CRATE”’ OF ZUNI AND OTHER PUEBLOS. (Cat. No. 11244, U. S.N.M. Ute Indians. Southern Utah. (Cat. No. 22971, U.S. N.M. Collected by Major J. W. Powell.) Collected by Major J. W. Powell. ) lowered as if with a weaver’s harness, while the straight twigs pass along the openings just as the warp does in common weaving. The method of fastening off the wicker twigs is shown in the detail of the coarser pattern. (Figs. 17,18.) Baskets of this very pattern are found at Zuii, but the opinion obtains that the basketry of this region belongs especially to the Shoshonian and the Apache-Tinné stock. Barter is going on all the time, and it is difficult to follow tribal characteristics “under such circumstances. The Zuni and most of the Rio Grande pueblos are famous for their pottery. The pack-men and the pack-women here distinguish them- selves, especially for the ease and grace with which they carry water and other burdens on the head. Here comes in the head-ring or burden- pad, specimens of which are figured (Figs. 19, 20). They are made either by wrapping a bundle of soft bast or grass into a ring, as in the top ee se eT d 270 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. figure, or by weaving a ring of yucca fiber neatly around a mass of the shredded fiber. This ring is placed upon the head and the round-bot- tomed jar upon that. When the jar is set down the ring still is made to support it and keep itin an upright position. Many jars have a concavity beneath, which really seems to be an afterthought. Itis only a seeming, however, as there is no evidence either way. In comparison with the Zufi water-carrier is shown an Italian girl in Palermo perform- ing the same feat. It is only a short step from this figure tothe cary- atid, in which architecture glorifies in marble one of the humblest oe- cupations of humanity. (Fig. 21.) Cees. Mil 4 NS Ne hy NS SS acca NS SS een — “(th Mi “YU ee = LUT Mas ; - > Mii bs Wee 1 Yin My Mii ype ip ae y Yih if) VLE, LEG ———— % { il ( (( i i | { Mt t = — = fa aI Fig. 17. SMALL FRUIT-PICKER’S BASKET. FRUIT-BASKET. Collected by James (Cat. No, 22998, U.S. N.M. Moki Pueblos, Arizona. Collected (Cat..No, 70937, U.S. N. M. Moki Pueblos, Arizona. by Major J. W. Powell. ) Stevenson ) The Pueblo Indians, like the Eskimo above described, use the breast- ‘strap in dragging loads. They have the clumsy wooden Spanish cart and the diminutive burro, but there are occasions when the man or the woman is regularly hitched up to drag a load up the precipitous mesas, : where even a burro could not climb. The breast-strap is made of yucca | fiber woven in diagonal patterns, and forms a very efficient harness. This strap, however, is even more likely to be rested across the fore- head than upon the breast. (Fig. 22.) j The Apaches are extremely artistic in their manufacture of appliances for burden-bearing. The carrying basket, here figured, is made of rods sewed together by the coiled process. Ornamentation is effected by the ee a ee a THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. DAL manner of stitching, by using different-colored material, and by sewing on strips of soft, white buckskin, to the lower end of which are attached the small hoofs of deer or bits of tin rolled up. (Fig. 23.) ‘The method _ of carrying burdens among the Apaches is shown in the next figure, of a woman bearing the cradle frame hung to the top of her head. Note here the position of the strap high up on the head, as suggesting the inquiry whether various uses and abuses of the head may not have con- tributed to its deformation. (Fig. 24.) line 7 F NOS \ \ S==_—= Fig. 20. E Fig. 19. ZUNI WOMAN SUPPORTING A JAR OF WATER. (From a photograph in the U.S. National Museum. ) HEAD OR MILKMAID’S PADS. (Cat. No. 40466, U. S. N. M. Pueblo Indians, Arizona and New Mexico. Collected by James Stevenson.) ¢ Before passing southward it is well to consider the habits of the In- dians east of the Rocky Mountains. No less than their western neigh- bors were they formerly accustomed to carry heavy burdens, For this 272 . REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. purpose they used baskets, hampers, wallets, par-fleche cases, skin bottles, skin wallets, and every other receptacle hitherto described. (Figs. 25, 26.) In some of the mounds that have been carefully ex- amined little striz showed that about a peck of earth constituted the separate loads of dirt which were doubtless scraped up near by and carried on the head or back in basketstothe mound. ‘The first settlers found the aborigines carrying on a respectable commerce, and using inventions that were truly labor-saving machines. Fig. 21. Fig. 22. ITALIAN WOMAS SUPPORTING EMPTY JAR. - BREAST-STRAPS. (From a photograph in the U. S. National Mu- (Cat. No. 70962—4, U.S. N. M. Zuni Indians. New seum. ) Mexico. Coilected by James Stevenson.) Fortunately a beautiful example of a carrying apparatus was gath- ered forty years ago from the Arikara and Mandan area. (Fig. 26.) Its composition is worthy of our closest study. Four bent poles con stitute the frame-work, two of them with a wide interspace, the other two narrow, like an ox-yoke bow. The two wide bows are placed nearly parallel and about 10 inches apart at top and 4 at bottom. The nar- row ones cross these at right angles nearly, only they are spread a little at top. They are also as far apart as the length of the basket demands. These two narrow bows descend 6 inches to afford a rest for THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. ata the load. The carrying-strap is of rawhide. The weaving is allied to that of the Columbia River natives and the tribes northward to the Al Ss H = ) i Witt Divartn i v), sh il ZS, WZ 4 i i i Lap ps fh WEG ue Hee i Ts Wat AFM, av SN 7h Bhat LLL Fig. 23. Fig. 24. DECORATED CARRYING-BASKET. APACHE SQUAW CARRYING PAPPOOSE-FRAME BY MEANS ¥ a OF HEAD-BAND. (Cat. No. 21489, U.S.N. M. Apacke Indians of Arizona. Collected by Dr. J. B, White, U. S. N.) (From a photograph in the U. S. National Museum. ) THE UNIVERSAL “PAR FLESH” CASE OF RAWHIDE, USED BY ALL BUFFALO HUNTING INDIANS. Peel River, in British Columbia. It is indeed weaving in diaper, the warp and the weft equally important in width, flexibility, and manip- H., Mis, 600, pt. 2——18 274 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ulation, narrow strips of birch or other tough bark, some of them having the dark, others the light side exposed. This gives a pretty figured effect to the surface. Mexico is the land of carriers. The early chroniclers mention over and over the employment of pro- fessional bearers by the rulers of the ancient city. Indeed, the mountainous condition of the country has kept alive the prac- tice of using men for beasts of ‘burden up to the present time, when the very best substitute is the pack-mule. Travelers in modern Mexico refer to regular caravans of peons, who are to be seen entering the city from every direction, bringing to market every kind of commodity. Even the butchers send their meat around on the backs of men. The Mexican earrier is a student of attitudes, to the extent that there is not a position of his body adapted to burden-bearing ~with which he is not familiar. One specimen of basket in the National Museum is made of split ee ee cane, Woven in diaper. (Figs. 28, oapariyeer ooo a do ea ew eur me but in some cases the top load is greater than the contents of the basket. The strap passes beneath the basket up to the two loops midway. It extends just around the shoulders to the breast-bone in front. The head-band is also used in Central America, but the breast-strap has not appeared since we left Alaska. In the figure of the carrier here presented, quite an elaborate back-pad is shown. In the Pimaspecimen a pad of this sort is attached to the basket, but in the Mexican example the pad is attached to the man. It consists of a large piece of soft leather, folded several times, hung to the neck above, and held down at the bottom by a belt around the waist. (Figs. 29, 30.) The Pima carrier, therefore, has but one basket, while the Mexican is detachable from his basket, and padded for any load whatever. The human yoke is probably a foreign invention to Mexico. Itisa common sight now to see a man with a stout strip of wood on his shoulder, from either end of which depends a jar by means of a strap, as shown in the figure. These jars hold about two gallons each of Fig. 26. 275 PORTRAIT OF A WASHINGTON NEGRO, SHOWING A VERY COMMON METHOD OF BURDEN-BEARING. (From life, by W. H. Chandlee. ) Si ag SX armen \) Wass OS ieee i Teil mn lee A Pig. 28. ‘CARRYING-BASKET OF THE CARGADOR. (Cat, No, 91508, U.S. N. M. Choctaw Indians, Mobile, Alabama. Collected by Edward Palmer, ) 276 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. water, pulque, flour, beans, etc. The frame at the bottom of the draw- ing holds two of these jars. Other frames hold three or more. One of these frames on either side of a burro makes up a pack, when the load is easily transferred from the pack-man to the pack-mule. The pottery is made in the mountainous districts, and one may frequently see mule- trains coming along, their packs filled with pottery of this kind. (Fig. 31.) i (My J) yl VEZ ous Wy Yigg Ap 7 SoH, Wr YG pay? a} Si Y Jp Yup asa / w Nau “Ade Wy oy kp fon Wi, )) MM my) oes Z i } Y Lif) an ON AN ys Fig. 29, PORTRAIT OF A MEXICAN CARGADOR STANDING ON A TRACK, SHOWING THE TWO EXTREMES OF TRANSPORTATION. (Original drawiug by W. H. Chandlee. ) Another method of hitching up mankind has crept into Mexico, namely, the wheelbarrow. The drawing here given is an exact copy of a Guadalajara potter’s conception of the happy wheelbarrow man, his machine made entirely of wood, the shafts supported by a strap hung from one shoulder and passing under the right arm. (Fig. 32.) Tylor (Anahuac, 120) says; “A crowd of women follow close in the x THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. SO rear of a Mexican army, almost every soldier baving some woman who belongs to him, who carries a heavy load of Indian corn and babies, and cooks tortillas for her lord and master. The number of these poor creatures who perish in the wars is very great.” alan Tht 1 \ NS Fi sears tl fem Ne tl alle “i | ni \ Fig. 30. PORTRAIT OF A MEXICAN BUTCHER. (After W. H. Holmes. ) Observe the parts of the body involved. Mrs. Polhemus, in her ‘‘ Woman’s Work for Woman,” speaks thus of the Mexican burden-bearers: ‘‘ Who are these two men coming towards us, and what do they carry? The first is bearing to the city nothing less than a load of wash-tubs. - Very primitive they are, as you may see, yet clothes will come from them as white and beautiful as any you may have washed in your stationary tubs at home, with all the modern improvements. Our next friend carries a bundle of wood, picked up outside the city, and how precious those crooked sticks are you would never guess till you tried to buy them. Here comes the baker's boy, with his great flat basket, nicely balanced on his head, and filled with fresh rolls and sweetened breads for your afternoon chocolate; then comes an Indian woman with a great bundle of charcoal strapped to her back, a baby tucked into her rebozo in front, and beyond walks another, bearing on her head an earthen jar. In Guatemala this is the way they carry milk, but here in Mexico City the jar is more likely to contain water, either for bathing or drinking. On the corner stands a porter, waiting and ready for a few cents to hoist to his back your heaviest Saratoga trunk and transportit whither you will. Here comes 278 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. another Indian woman. A few peas, beans, and perhaps peppers are tied up in a blanket, which is knotted around her neck. She stops at doors, calls out her wares, and trots along till she is sold out and her blanket empty; and so, as we pass along, do you notice how much in Mexico is carried by men and still oftener by Indian women.” Dae Sten \\) >? A Fig. 33. Fig. 34. CARRYING-FRAME. COFFEE-CARRIER OF RIO. (Cat. No. 126805, U.S.N.M. British Honduras. (After Wilkes. ) Collected by U. S. Consul A. E. Morlan. X Slaves are almost the only carriers of burdens in Rio Janeiro. They go almost naked and are exceedingly numerous. They appear to work with cheerfulness, and go together in gangs with a leader, who carries a rattle filled with stones, similar to a child’s rattle. With this he keeps time, causing them all to move on in a dog-trot. Each one joins in the monotonous chorus, the notes seldom varying above a third from the key. The words they use are frequently relative to their own country, sometimes to what they heard from their master as they started with their load, but the sound is the same. The coffee-carriers go in gangs of twenty or thirty. In singing, one- half take the air, with one or two keeping up a kind of hum on the common chord, and the remainder finish the bar. These slaves are re- quired by their masters to obtain a certain sum, according to their ability, say from 25 to 50 cents a day, and pay it every evening. The surplus belongs to themselves. In default of not gaining the requisite sum, castigation is alwaysinflicted. The usual load is about 200 pounds. (Wilkes.) 282 ' REPORT OF NATIONAL MJSEUM, 1887. In Rio Janeiro as well as in the United States and the West Indies may be seen in perfection the African toting on the head. This prac- tice does not seem to have been a favorite one among the American aborigines, if we except the water-carriers of the interior basin of the United States. In the coffee-carriers of Rio as well as among the steve- dores of all our sea-ports and commercial towns, the load rests partly on the head and partly on the top of the scapule, there being local vari- ations of the method running from support on the head alone to support on the scapule alone. The method is an exceedingly convenient one either for unloading or for emptying the sack. SS> an ee = Sees Upe a ne ay hee an ey in a) shin Wr Vi : Fig. 35. NEGROES IN RIO JANEIRO, BRAZIL, ACTING AS DRAUGHT ANIMALS. (From an old print.) From Rio we have also an old sketch, after Wilkes, illustrating the use of man as a draft animal. (Fig. 35.) All over the world the ‘“push-eart” is known. Nothing is commoner in Washington than the sight of a negro with his little two- wheeled cart, moving at a dog-trot, with a light load of everything con- ceivable. The freight of one of these carts rarely exceeds the quarter of a ton, but the draft-man moves much faster than a horse ora mule. The climax of this process of using men for draft is seen on the monuments of Egypt, where hundreds of them are hitched to a single sledge. The romantic survival presents itself everywhere in firemen’s processions, the car of Juggernaut, the triumphal car. A negro dray team in Rio consists of five stalwart Africans pushing, pulling, steering, and shouting as they make their way amid the ser-_ - Fig. 35a. ried throng. Now an omnibus thun- Navo INvIAN CARRIER, OF Ecuapor. ders through the crowd, and a large Seana four-wheeled wagon, belonging to some company for the transportation of ‘‘ goods,” crashes in its wake. Formerly all this labor was performed THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 283 by human hands, and searcely a cart or a dray was used in the city, unless, indeed, it was drawn by negroes. Carts and wagons propelled by horse-power are now quite common; but for the moving of light burdens and for the transportation of furniture, pianos, etc., the negro’s a head has not been superseded by any vehicle. (Kidder and Fletcher, - Brazil and the Brazilians, page 29.) a The Napos Indians, of Ecuador, also use the head-band to support the basket; the staff is also introduced to throw a portion of the load upon the arms and turns the bearer into a veritable quadruped. (Fig. 35 A.) In the island of Madeira is also seen the rudimentary form of loading 4 up two or more men. The primitive palankin is simply a hammock swung on a pole, with ornamental awning and so forth to suit the rider. We vill pause a moment to scrutinize this apparatus. (Fig.36.) When- My ' he Ergo ' Hag Mit ‘ Y} il et Ss wa i Mh a Ut Mee nie hi “i Ny 1 iy Py Cas ~ Gis “ii, SUA Ue S3 (Bo Mh Wes us oe vit Bist pte TSG SUN aes ue Tu ML a ae 1 hh “i 28 PAbiz Tilt oe Sites HYUN eas ca NVA terme) UU Re —_ i al M\ isis oe : a cl Sl ih AA ANN — ese ; rh ty wie re inet Miia, ee - ae Fig. 36. HAMMOCK CARRIAGE, WITH TWO BEARERS. MADEIRA. (Frem a photograph in the U S. National Museum. ) ever a4 man wishes to carry a stick of timber he finds the center of gravity and places that upon his shoulder. It is only a slight step forward to make the stick lighter and add weights on either end, as do the Mexican carrier and Chinese cooly. Revolve the pole ninety de- grees so as to be perpendicular to the line of progression and we have the typical Holland yoke. We are proceeding here, as always, on the supposition that the human mind sets ever before itself the problem how to get the greatest result with the least effort. This involves in the case in hand a study of padding, fitting, resting, etc., all of which things have their local methods of treatment. Again, suppose two men have a log or plank to carry between them, each rests one end of the load on his shoulder. This is the first step in that varied apparatus which becomes in different lands palankin, bier, filanzana, in which rank or cireumstance make one set of men the carriers of another. Many of the peasantry are employed as carriers, _and one is much struck by their numbers as they enter Funchal early _ 284 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. in the morning with sheep-skins filled with wine upon their shoulders, Fig. 37. WINE-CARRIER IN MADEIRA. (After Wilkes, in Report on the U. S. Exploring Expedition. ) are bearers, and they rest them- selves by supporting the load on crutch-like staves, since they can not set it down. (Fig. 36.) A sledge, about 6 feet in length, 20 inches, wide, and 6 or 8 inches high, with two strips of hard wood fastened together for runners, used to transport pipes of wine, is the only vehicle employed in Madeira. Figured (Wilkes I, p. 10.) A drawing of the Persian water-carrier is introduced here (Fig. 38) for the purpose of trac- ing the head-band and the skin bag in their distribution. The pulque-gatherer of Mexico uses the skin of a hog in collecting the crude juice of the plant; the Eskimo employs the closed skin for a water-carrier as well as for a float. All over the Orient and in Africa the goat -skin is the accompaniment of looking at a distance more like a live animal than a filled skin. The skins are preserved entire, even the legs of the animal being retained. (Fig. 37.) These bur- dens are kept steady by a band that passes over the forehead, which supports a great part of the weight. About 25 gallons, weighing more than 200 pounds, isa load. They move rapidly and earry this load for a mere trifle. To us a remarkable feature in the population was to see a female not only thus employed, but a -stout mountain lass trudging up a steep path with ease under a load that would have staggered one of our laborers even a short distance. ( Wilkes.) - In the Madeira type two men ss GPE, PERSIAN WATER CARRIER. (After H. Fenn, in Century Magazine. ) THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 285 the water and the wine carrier. A load of this kind rests on no particu- lar portion of the back, adjusting itself perfectly to head, neck, should- ers, and back. The paternity of the modern knapsack appears in the carrying- basket of Holland represented in the figure. (Figs. 39, 40.) This method of bri as ae pT See f i He nial iN SEES foes er ry com Fig. 40. GERMAN WOMAN CARRYING-BASKET WITH SHOULDER- HOLLAND YOKE, SHOWING BOTH HANDS AND STRAPS. SCAPULAS USED IN CARRYING. (From a photograph in the U. S. National Museum. ) (From a photograph in the U. S. National Museum. ) hitching up the pack-woman can not be very ancient. It is not widely spread amoung the aborigines of America, where the woman is the bearer and the man goes on ahead to do the fighting or hunting. To all ap- pearances this is a sacrifice of great weight to the labor-saving scheme of joining the bearer and the warrior in one individual. Hence the sol- dier discards the head-strap or the breast-strap, and adopts the knap- sack. (Fig. 41.) In an example of head-strap from Africa we have a repetition of one from Montana, in which the pack-man becomes, as it were, his own driver. He puts the sack, or bundle of fagots or what not, on the two lines about the middle. He then backs up to his load, inserts his forehead into the head-band, and seizing the lines by the outer ends rolls his load upon his back. In the same manner grocers roll barrels of goods up and down the cellar skids. (Fig. 42.) A very neat and ingenious framework for burden-bearing comes from 286 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 18387. the Congo region. Two stout palm leaves are laid about a foot apart and the:leaflets on their adjacent sides are braided together. The leaf- ie 5 me er 7 cilia Us we ety aaa =o 41. PEASANT WOMEN OF RUSSIA CARRYING STONE ON A BIER. (After George Kennan, in Century Magazine.) lets on their outer margins are twisted into short cords and then braided into a continuous margin for the frame. (Fig. 43.) This apparatus is loaded with the greatest variety of merchandise, to be carried to and from the coast in trade. “The Madis of Africa make admirable porters, being very careful of the loads intrusted to them, and display no little iorethought and inge- nuity in preserving them from injury. The rule is that no load should ex- ceed 50 pounds in weight, and that it should be either square or oblong, the latter being preferred. They always carry the load on the head on a pad made of grass, very rarely steadying it with the hand unless going over very rough ground. They strongly object to carry loads over 50 pounds, but if pressed will take them up to 70 pounds, if the distance to be marched is not more than three days and extra fond is given them. Loads of 100 or 120 pounds are carried by two men, hung on a pole, which they balance on their heads, but they do not like the work. If a very heavy load has to be carried, e. g., a man, they place him on a native bed and carry him, two at a time, changing relays of men at about each mile. This they prefer to carrying by four men at once. I can testify from personal experience that it is far better to be carried by two men than four, for they go much more easily and do not run_ against so many trees or overhanging branches. ‘The relief men march before those who are bearers and cry out when obstacles oceur. As regards distance they carry loads of 50 pounds 20 miles a day, for eight or ten consecutive days, without showing signs of distress, but THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 287 - on the march they appear to require a great deal of water, and will : sooner burden themselves with a gourd full than go without it for more than two hours ata time. If they go by a road where water is scarce, _ they generally take a few women or children with them to carry it. When they arrive at a stream all loads are put down, and they bathe, if the water is deep, or sit down and wash themselves, if it be shallow, aX \y \ 1 SS OMI SH 4 Fig. 43. AFRICAN CARRYING-STRAP. THIS METHOD OF CARRYING-FRAME OF THE CONGO, MADE BY BRAID- CARRYING ALSO PREVAILS IN NORTIWEST ING THE LEAVES OF THE PALM. UNITED STATES. i ai (Cat. No. 4959 (P), U. S. N. M. Collected by Capt. Charles Cat. No. 72708, U.S. N.M. TLoango Coast, West Africa. Col- Wilkes, U.S. Navy.) lected by Museum fiir Volkerkunde, Leipzig, Germany. and then take a long drink. The Madis can searcely be prevailed upon to march at night, even in bright moonlight, on account of bad roads, which is strange, as their eye-sight is remarkably good. Neither will they start until the dew is entirely off the grass, or if made to do so by promises of reward, they tie bunches of grass or skins before them to avoid as much as possible being wetted by the dew. : ; In crossing a river of 4 or 5 feet deep they stand in the water in a double row and hand the loads from one to the other. Should the stream be very strong, they break down branches which have broad forks, and placing one end firmly in the bed of the stream lean against the fork, and so get the needed support. They march at a quick pace, but generally halt for ten or twenty minutes after each 3 or 4 miles. In carrying the Egyptian post these men make long and quick ZOO Ho, REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. marches, 60 or 70 miles often being accomplished in twenty-four hours. (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, 1833-84, Nos. 115-118, p. 316.) The open palankin or chair has reached an excellent differentiation in Madagascar. -Timmle lek ware wp wlarale Guloynr lene affiehiny qe isolate), st oue Mun a ORcu en cle ane oe oye apie no ene es GNC enue ewe Lar Ales eet) MG aire sduie'y | Ke : opuae) SOAS BRE Ebi hein be ese aa ee er eae OL “sexoq-oooeqoy, | eases Onin eimai itl) (eerie een cy ‘sndung | ‘ \ iss ‘spjour-edrg | : oan ace a : ee ee Coupe pecceer cae teen ake ola. CEE) i mete ete erat st Sate ame Pate OP TIO TaN, AILS) a Fie see Sas eT SLITS Pe NER Ts Ocala guy era ae Nev aa Gat LTA Gl TLV S mee lap Sam aw ayer tee eee ‘spavoq-Buyyyn6 | GO Den 0 et Kote Noted wht Oot We Hen TeGete 0 Gots H HDi i te ts leq tq Sa ee Triage SOS Soa ase a ee ES TSSD SE aeean soagwegmug| fii ipidthitiiipr: bit nie: Bata eReh an Gree ete e ts ‘sopsed pur sxeqzom gnug | PasT pe oC De De Bee LS Ue et CEST Oss AOI iSO a er i ar EER me : aS ie ae a eA Se ssrodmrosagnig) (fy tt saray co cstvr tive v Gr lievgyer vovls os trae we) Wve yen vevonon elie aot 4 ; Hee eaee Sete Yh Poet BEY i tpt ante ie AE Sue cate, Genet ; Mention mane 340 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Regions. Nushegak Bristol Bay Tliamna Lake Koggiung Naknek Oogashik Oonalashka Chernovsky Wrangel Bay Kadiak Island Cook’s Inlet Nuchek Yakutat Thlinkit Bering’s Island..... Sees Japan Lapland Madison, Ohio ..... ache n ia So ~~ =] a iI 2 P ) I Bl ys | es | Ela = Se} e2y].)} aol] we m2 | >) c¢;}0 Ane eee Siolo|/ alse /S)4)/ a lola Aly|s|al/Alal4|a |al\a be tke GAINES E| satu Ae aal UM teetgN ginal Ti ge at Se a a 1/7/10 l193 | 60|7/1)19|1|9 o| 2 Feet , SE a al a i 4 ° a|6 ro [2s eco oie Bleol/aia}] ai. Ss 2/8 iS/3la/ 2) ale ele ls|ale|/3181 3 m=) Bo) | ew Ee Welt =| AiOln|\H#|Hial|nia Foe Tas iy fale Psat ae ERT pe) pe RN PT Hib il eee ah Bs oe eI Bl MS Se el Sa DN a 4| 48 | 3 \121 | 24 (118 | 75 \113 d41 CATALOGUE OF ESKIMO COLLECTION. QO HMiASEeOHDSHNAH HMO OD PEE eer Dnnnomanmnnnn -sjoog | BB EI Ri rh a eet tes tet hee eat ee ‘says yng | Da ie isten ose ie cia es a ‘soqooorg | Me nese tn NIRS ee lean atte muah ane Wester ; ‘sqoxoue | pee etea et tar prlen steer = “ysy SuyZupy9 zy sorpooyy | ee eee ake EAN hare tee Hie reuigieinpmes 2 | 66 | 21 smoouspomuvoroa | Mii titi tiiiiii | ils ‘030 ‘ooouqos aoy seg. | aol el ae : k fe vouomavopen | (ii iii iim titi “‘sjosoug | = ‘s1oddiq | OY “‘sLOySe | | z “Svq-[10 04 eoord-qanoyy | eo *qQRoUl IOF S300 FL | a *‘sdurey | 2 peer i ees ‘s0xoq-000%90%, | DoE a regener OD SM STeEO She DDS tats Peucuun, ere titer mete ie ‘spjour-edrg | *sodig | “SpIvo0q-sUr}ING | ‘soaois-gnug | ‘sopjsod pue sivjz10ul yuUg | ‘srodeaos-gnug | 342 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. OO WM|M MTP cone Regions. | Fish-skin boots. (cE Ni ah MIE DS Tl West Greenland..-.....-.|.- Labrador Cumberland Gulf Smith Sound Point Barrow Point Belcher Icy Cape Cape Lisburne Point Hope Kotzebue Sound .....--- Hotham Inlet ....-..-.--. i ; Euan Maer apn eaais ape Espenberg....--..-|.-]. E ‘Wales .-. Cape Prince of Diomede Island Cape Wankarem........|.- Port Clarence ..--....-..|..]...|.. B Pchukehi .-2225-.....-.-)--)---|- King’s Island .......-...|.. Sledge Island Cape Nome St. Lawrence Island-..-..]..}... Poonook Plover Bay Kaviagamute | Golovina Bay ...-..-..-. Cape Darby Nubviakhehugaluk .....|.. Norton Bay Koyuk River....--.....-|..}..-]-.}--|-- Shaktolikyeeee cece ssceeeo lee leaatse Oonalakleet ...-..--...--|..}...].- Kegikhtowik...........-|.. St. Michael.....-....-.-.}.-|..-]-- i Pikmiktalik............. ASpOle es ole Ma HD Norton Sound.-.-.... Yukon Delta and Mouth. Razboiniksky ........... i (1 Sabotnisky............-.].: Mission eee. toscee coe] Paimute MATIVAK eee saee salccee ce een ING ato eee ees ec taal ee Dananaleeececsenissim =e |ae Upper Yukon......-....]..|... i ANS Ruin ee OS aanoodaccl Salleeolse Kashunuk ..........----].. ‘Kaialigumute ........---].. . 8 se eee Ce esa ae ect eo sei seen ee ent Jose WueiaC Jur Vests} Na ge te 0. 6 | Moccasons. | Grass socks. | Fishing hats. , ' we m eee woe erwecce|.~-}..-|--)--]--le- Ookagamute ........-.-.|.-|.--].-|-- PB Cape Vancouver ........|.. Nulokhtologamute ......|.. Agiukchugamute........].. Nunivak Island .........].. Sfaganugamute ..... Anogogmute .........-..]..|...|- Kongiganagamute.......|..|..- [ee Koolvagavigamute.....2]..|...|..].-|.-].. Chalitmute.... BiG AKG r ee owes. coe Kuskokvim River.......].. Mogiak Riverzses--cecces|s Alene Tuniakhput....-..... WOUSNGES seme tenwccccose | nel ne NTIGHD Oikcaee masts mate sooo eae oa IBTISEOMB AN cancas en side ssl ealices Diamna Wake soc 2ccse KOR STUN co iwaces cisiensciccte | Shades for same. Fish-skin mittens. Grass mittens. Kayak suits. | Armor. Skin robes. Mats. Bracelets. . — . 4 ie Wal ee lie of eee a eg ali sale tl apeelo “riety le feat ica heels 2 ae fectea sic dallas ee aE ania heal Cet Labrets. male tele Sine a a eae eae ee ees 1 palo: (cc ela eel cal aah fase eae He eed Bese) eee er ORE i Eat ee eee Tee cu, mrs hee tye OO} ores eel Soc! soeclic asco 1 Aas oats Th eal) PA al Pease 2 1 DT ota Wes ates Sie 1 ar SD 1g ees etal eve feet tea esa ioe 2 Si ca a hae tere a fe Sailadiel Albee bool ob loreal bool loan By Neal se Fal ep fos] Issel le tay ee setae tom tose mel eee ened Fae yey Rea a eas dise lesa. Bi we DENCE log BS eee [eu few itd io aoe SA ats tel ee ORI Save Ms Coke 1 (0 pres bs US) 4 pee eid ee 1 Pot ea 6 Deiat AN DD Odea asd | eee 10 }-- 3 Wi ae he Saeed me Re nN PEs Bisa I Stile Sf el esse ced ee Palen papal (RL aa Pape) TS ea a Vay pepsi [Eee AS VB (Se 66} --=)o-cle- - 5 | 69 |-- 5 a a hae 49 | 1 }...}-. TE aA 3 ol aaa Ssios fi calseale oon a oeeleane 5 Selo sltooe Aisi 2aifiocrs| flare ay crete [ etenatad ocaie eae ie “ie A ReMegeN (ete Vowel case i PASTA Vea, 1 a ee hn fered ce eda ne tne get ges Fe ye) fee WP IB aaa eS 2 ee 4 2 }..-| 10 AN ee tes) one na Sec] se Reset bie!) 4}... 6 SIGS al ela ceelb ath cat lag gel Saleeeas IBM hea es lee 4 oad See alas 1 JE} al esas. WW allie il psi PAV teen Peas Sileoelsosl sad lecosliaces eS Baal LES ee 1OQH Saleecieee 62 | 58 |---| 36 5] Fekete pees (ses I Nesalissaiioscisecellase Bp oree 4 pp PT PR | este) Ue (el 5 LM pepe tee OP) Ve Puks| ele Pea) ae ec PS Pe rel erg (be ee 2 Oe hie fos oda eee ee eS oa ets ee fe efron lI eco Bel ape 1 i |loseilosiias 2 ps ee Len Bi Wir Se elo CK | Ne) Pe lSeciselae poellScclasenase sekeleockeiad Hoan, ae eta lr oeyat oe |eeat cals aa soiloaelaiigeal) 2BY |igeclio4s sis5 7/16 4.. qT | ead Nasa UT red ee rates TA eee 1 no bee ies esre ral esl nslivelh a call nay BP ai ten br 6h Vere ite Lee Pees bee EL) Dine 2 Eta (Sars peal bea 7 ae 8 SHESeIaMeD one toge luc Lea lite Ue a 343 CATALOGUE OF ESKIMO COLLECTION. 70 'SOUl]-O[VYM LOZ YOOUD | ‘ouyf-woodaey | oa ‘e[0y-90F sox ysnig. | “9[OT-90L LOF Loic | ‘ D *soqord-[veg | “sjooyg | *8]9nq-doodae xy | *s]yeqse10j-woodie py, | "8}J2Y8-os00] Moodie, | *syutod-moodie yy | ‘eyo duos ‘suoodieyy | ‘szutod ‘qsy ‘sruedg “ysy ‘sagedg | iat: ‘syujod-avods | it -aqoqduroo ‘sazedg | Oe “Trey ‘squ107y | aun | ‘soqsnig | ia: : “s1esnoy | *SOATUY-MOUG | CUONION ‘stedooa9-00 |: "se[s303-moug | ‘sprog | ‘s]UeIeNI0 e8¥0-0[pe0NN | ‘sjuemvnio xog |: *‘s]} UOMO Fey ‘s}uemenso sey | 1 |...) 45 ---| 69 344 "REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Region 74 | Naknek....-....-.------ 75 | Oogashik... Y 76 | Oonalashka . ae 77 | Chernovsky.... 78 | Wrangel Bay........-.-- 79 | Kadiak Island .......-.. 80 | Cook’s Inlet..........--- Sli Nuchek Pose soos ce oe C2) Malkutab seetnccme sles oe CSy eh Linikit oes a ee eee 84! Bering’sIsland.-.......-. 85 | Japan .-....-........---- 86 | Lapland............--.-. SUM ENLORICOMeH see cele ceanse Motaltorteeecccees QD 4 5) S|. is |B $l2 = 13) 8 Ala) = wi | |e |e B\S = nD q Blo -Al6 of R= x) = ol|o = p\ola\2 #e) td | am | O81 & \es H/o #/ a |Slaels! | 8 (2arale| = ls 2| 2 \s\e ze |2/2 (28 /e\ 2 | i] Alo Allo) a ICM] a |S EA cel ea ERP 4 a aL Poa a a pall §/12 }1/}1!8)9/1/82 |9)1)5)2|12 |1 10 |546 EEE Bracelets. ray lae mn z| = a/4 | A H(o} 4 O|O;1 8 Ala|a 13 |10 296 Head-dresses. 0! | Pendants. 345 CATALOGUE OF ESKIMO COLLECTION. ‘SOUT[-O[VY A IOJ HOOD | ‘eury-woodiey | ‘Q[OY-901 Io; YSNag | *e[OY-0L OF Lope | “soqord-[eog | “sqooag | 89) 0q-moodiv yy | 8] BY se10F;-aood1e yy | HID CO OOD OHO HID Or Pee eree DOOM W OM [ree Sas T= ihen eel ee sa 1 ‘ 1 ‘ ' f= o ‘ (50, ereseO tests eeu ee te Oe Ce nen 1 pall eUaa oo. ' ‘ O15 ' athe eet sabe ty Oa ethene Sana sel SeEsel = (fia ae oo D2 0 Strew ooo 1 eeOes ena eet) ‘ soe ¥ oo : (ae O lan Geet a SLO : atone oe eee ore te SD" 0 ooo " qo er Oo 0 0 G0 WoW aw |S) Ce ee COSC IL ama Geet nt TL Paco nC) Reta eben wenebten a) Sy po eee ic | oo. meee (rasa este Gea a Sa ee an Um Sere COACH Yee yeas CA — WoaeDe it een reel est eee Ca) oo oo 00 teen ne est ' ¥ eer tet ete cee ‘S]JVYS Osoo] Woodie, | ‘syurod-aoodie yy | aS ay age al TRS cota eal Cm feclisen | Lee dies eee eee a ee oat Den Ue Oneteotis rn Ura CC: tee tee 8 te eee . . oe oo ' *ejo[du109 ‘stToodie py | ‘squod ‘ysg‘sawodg | iii tiiriririti| sy savodg | iiitim tits isl ‘squrod-avedg | ‘oqo dmoo ‘srvedg | “I1leq ‘Squlog | ‘soqsnig | ‘saesno7y | ‘SOATUY-MOuUG | 30 | 29 | 68 |10 | 3 | 71 [235 | 45 | 15 | 29 andor EEL iid 1 sqaS0-moug| im i iiiiiiiiiicl Tie ‘syuemeurooseo-efpeosT] fii itis [ee nomemsoxon | i iiiiiiiii:: tls macmemowa | Lit pind ls wmommmouwa| fifiiitiit it ds seca av TEA Uy ae d= Bas 40 | 3 }139 }10 346 x REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Regions. © Ca 2 oi Co DD West Greenland Labrador Igloolik..... Aaacs Pelly Bay Kin William’ $ L Mackenzie River Anderson River Point Barrow and.... Point Belcher..-... edencee Icy Cape Cape Lisburne Point Hope Cape epee Cape Prince of Wales Diomede Island.-.-.... 506 Cape Wankarem.. Sledge Island Cape Nome St. Lawrence Island Poonook .- Plover Bay -.-..... Kaviagamute Golovina Bay Cape Darby--.-..-...----- Nubviakhchugaluk.....- Norton Bay sete eee easecce Kegikhtowik St. Michael .............- Pikmiktalik ............. Pastolik -..... Sete sien Norton Sound Yukon Delta and Mouth. Razboiniksky Sabotnisky ee or Paimute ss ieee csssccec Anvik . ASKINTK: .oseccanenteces Kashunuk . Kaialigumute. Ookagamute Cape Nulokhtologamute. ...... Agiukchugamute........ Nunivak Island.......... Sfaganugamute Anogogmute....... Kongiganagamute Chalitmute sweecnce Kuskokvim River Togiak River Port Clarence.......-. Spe Fe ve Gey | AY Wh 2 ° chwkehi=ce- as oeseeeceesle King’s Island.........-.-|. AaAnCcouUver -....--.-|. Koolvagavigamute.......|. Taniakhput ..----...,...|. Fa ES re ey 1 aaa 2 ie a Mouth-pieces, float. Float-plugs. ie 28 BE IS I I BG oo ten leeelae ee woar|ee-leoee boedoor 1 VST Of) Ee afl eG RE aT | Float-rattles. | Float-handles. oboe ee DOR eee eee ees ee ee es ieee ied od oe ee) WEST OT ee a SAGO Seren aaa IS aN cee Ae tee sel lecte ao) leeesel sors Aid ETS ahaa ee Ane Sess | MIS | eee aaa sca) rial ecaloes oaeat Sac TANaNS ac seae sceheuiseee als A car ear n Sling-darts, fish, complete. Sling-darts, fish, points. Float-swivels. Sling-darts, fish, shafts. Sling-darts, fish, with float. Sling-darts, fish, rings for. Sling-darts, bird, complete. Sling-darts, bird, points. Sling-darts; bird, side prongs. Detacher for harpoon point. —— | —_ | ——| —- | _——_ — cae ies eee Boel De Aa eae le a LN dO, all oes 4 Wie Wes ee Fe cs I eat a AA Ns SSSA Se |e [eed at GM Mey nN a Mey al alee ee 1 Hs 5 AB Boa ie CH et og yale a hoy leit Sian weal eal Seal ne Hey iat ---| 13 Su) a Fill eed vf BE nas Arh Tales Silks. a eee ieee bers Pay (Ra ies ees eed ieee eee ers 347 CATALOGUE OF ESKIMO COLLECTION. ‘qou ‘s1eyH UG | : ‘ : ‘sox | SEES Per er a : “area | oe Se ee | “spor 10; sdry, | : ‘ : ‘spor pu souyy | paneer stg must eice nary Sigh et crore i ne mest urate at PSAS Tate db teats bone toe aanat abet vt BL OStoD eee a : rsxoxmig | PR eb thd ih bt vongs firs reoipe iy fit ted trim tte tt beep eee tas MApUO; SpE} | (et MERE mee ee te ae ‘symjod-avods 10 soxog | USBigr Caras es ccs etat near g pasty ors Het tasten SUIBET|| cera tihiiatatsustat Sat viet staves tp Naien ses (VGN ini ttl yang FLA CTRE CET SES Te HP ne Rae igre Teeter Ue a a nets atiata ttt AogDapmomay|| tie: eaigiastar Giger MS pigs rect teins etc napeeAouMY| SSRN MMH is te i bi et mgmony| @iiiimissimimiiiiiiitaim iii ‘more pus Moqgeryen | ppt iii bbb bb bp ii biapipt iis iebiiis womepsoamy | iii iste be bee babii b ett ‘spxend-qe1a4\ | CE Lod tae UU calc PRE He el Ae Hal ener aa ae SBLOATU(Dg| Spelt =f ate} OMAN acl tat ctescimwrtet Ht fos cater Meno spear ‘spepomm-og | Hales Hee ‘smog | OO 4 | A] op Ci iter! = S/S/S|38/2/3|31 5/42 | a3 [=] SIE 2ISizi38 o 4 as] 2\n|)AH|A A Pie feat veee | eacvat ane ioe iB) Ite |e 2 se hee Pee a ee Aca leiees inl au eee Oe ae i PAGES aaa ES Deana Ae Pe fe ea sr Fl a) a NSO BaP Kee pa le | Da 2 Scales Ila pe fesereny Hea | ere Pe Ronee Slee Pl RE Fee |G rel HT RECT PVD Sat ay 10} 2) 17) 11) 8 23 I ier ilk pe |e Beceem Me Sal TL Pea REDE a MR TAY We a Gr a 2 SG OLY lS AR] STN a gst Os APs eye eMule Se SUT SSRI mrs By 1 as TV Sh ae |e SHOE ERS ce ale FA By RA ABET Ee Te i ee OL Tal Eee es eed ae Geteeenl ee Suet erde fey a eS CO Noe A le aR ase Pl ges ate eR pale pl pap aol i Pe (Gast at Np HS CDT Pc ME 2 Ole al| al gy Pe) pita A BS Pg Bs] NOU ete a en Te pe PIG Pe RVG LAG ili i soa BETA VST 1 ell Poe Way Ie Ars [ipa La Weg, AIPA Se a es et WGI PHU ich es ee ecece -eecee Pastolik Norton Sound ...........|--. Yukon Delta and Mouth. iS) Co 10) COP COs Tanana.......--...- Upper Yukon ...... Askinuk Kashunuk Kaialigumute Dokagamute Cape Vancouver Nulokhtologamute Agiukchugamute... Nunivak Island Sfaganugamute Anogogmute Kongiganagamnute-.......|.-.|..- Koolvagavigamute Chatitmute.-.......- Big Lake Kuskokvim River..-....|.. Togiak River Roniakn putes cece sess see eee |ows WETSWOKE* poe osloccswwinrciestnes | Adze-blades. | Bag-fasteners. | Needle-cases. | Thimbles. | Thimble-holders. | Needle-sharpeners. 355 CATALOGUE OF ESKIMO COLLECTION. ‘SCA Sop-9spoIg ae teed ne ‘@S0T121] Sop-espo[s ee eRe *SIOUUMLI-O5 pols ‘ ‘sjapour-ospeig | ~ ‘espors | 7 | “‘SxOoT-1oq qu. ‘ eos uUrys TedanLpro aera 03 [oo g; Piiiiiiids ontesp women | EEE IE “so[puey-seaq “SUIBYO-SvIg, > -oyok-aoptnoyg | bit iti ett at ‘sroxormd-yo pr | Pp ny arcs *SYT[STOM-40 NT | : his ‘s1008dS-49 NT pau ne oe “StIQqoq-4ON | ‘ itt *s9[Po0w-40 NT | ) smmatwawoo | ELLE *8}[9q SULyvUr IOy TOOT, el eas *g[00) pues pavog §,1oxemeoys eee commimpoa| |) -o0a-pearty, | 5; ttt *10}8TM4-MOUIG ‘ cee ‘s}memo[dmr Sutpreig | ; ‘spavoq-Kaoporquagg |: "spreoq-e1p90N | 356 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Regions. | Boot-sole creasers. | Bark-skinners. | Thimble-holders. | Needle-sharpeners, | Bag-fasteners. | Needle-cases. | Scraper-blades. | Adze-handles, ; | Adze-blades. | Adze-heads. | Hammers. | Shovels. | Picks. | Needles. ad | Thimbles. ’ ' ‘ _ ae | Carving-knife. / . | Bodkins. 70 | Nushegak ......---------|..- please 71 | Bristol Bay -..-...-... aa BE aes enn os War NA Bile ee Pie ‘72, | Iliamna Lake .......--.- al eta eel eel ese = yell erst ei tral -+-|---|---[---]..-]- 73 | Koggiung -...-...--.--.. SS elied seo lie seoilaeo sen lle~o|[Meolloselleos eeeyctlh cer Wel ae YT (| ee YEN Isle) fe Foe sonesee sada. Sal clay sllesal\seelpsac Ets Pest (eee | keke fener | ees pe Re es "75 | Oogashik.........--.-... BE yh a FO | ORT | S| i ee ea en AT ‘76 | Oonalashka ...--...-...- Repel one 77 | Chernvosky ......-..-..- Banjos see Bes (es ee ae he bat ee ee eee 78 | Wrangel Bay .-..----.-- s6e|Abellecolises leaa||see Hapa eral ces eter [etal ieee east fetes fr] metal eval eves ee | pa ; i : i f oa . ' ' Go oy oo 79 | Kadiak Island....-...-... et aa 80 | Cook’s Inlet.-...-....-..- pay (ae Pee Pl ge ew Cate nes eel emeate see 81 | Nuchek -...-.....-...---. Bete |e | (eget lea | Lvov NL Ra Pah FE ly 82 | Yakutat................. al Aaa Aer Alle es Ml eyevet| Ge edie ceslizz cllatave levers | eee oan A ees | et Mane pera ere 83) Lhlinkihey see. -eee asec =~ ae reas | er lem alieyeel fcie col eo i aypilia ico eee ea epee ees oes Pc Bete) Res Is 84 | Bering’s Island.......... Be Ass a ce iced eee cel adel ee ol aaa Ge ae ea nese eS meltse CHT. 2 ea) |] GBR ORY bo 54 Sep ooaasaceos SSallens|leselaselsoellsos|senllasuliace||so = 86 | Lapland ................ o[-s-[ee-|---[e-efee-[---]-=-[---[e-[---[---fe-efee Jee-[-= [eee] eee PAB erent Total....-...-..---- 29/132} 5135] 16] 21) 2] 87| 11] 8} 28} 3] 13, 27|171/496 porate 61/100 35T CATALOGUE OF ESKIMO COLLECTION. ‘sdiqa Jop-odpe[g | ‘ssourey Jop-93pels | “sIoUUNI-99 pols | Ooty 0 O08 S056 . ' one erase Ce Ch ot) Sten SSD) airheerie sorte ‘sjpom-o8porg | detest VRerean espog| “i iii: ‘sqooyroqamia |: tit: *[B08 FO Teeetamtiest : UIYs Jopun pros ssvd 07 [OOT, ae ceed as ee ask eC SERA : ‘ou[-Seap wo 30049 | SI Ctst teat ete nett for “so[puey-seiq | “sureqo-ser | ‘eyos-repqnoys | *SLOMOTId-40 NT | *S}TSTOM-40 NT | Ciena] Ge aaa *s1098 08-90 NT | Ope eee ‘ soe eee ee Olney whieh yn eens | o 8 6 eo 8 ee ' Dat h eet il Kime tlas ths 0 it el a et Yom Demet (Yama Yocoa Smead Jom Vat fr) Slee Soe fe me G2 Oe bs ttn (ea lmLies = 8 © 8 H oe 8 ' *8uqq09-40N | Vo) ss ‘ tos toa t fond come Oo rina - , : ‘ ‘ ' ’ *S9[P90U-4O NT | “SSB10 ‘squi0g | : : . : t : ‘ ‘syloq Suryeursoyyooy, | i: yi sist *8[00} pus prvog s,toxemeoysg | fee es -sxoyeaedos-prog, | i 0 oe : *[001-prory, | *IRJSTA9-MOUTG | ‘symemoe[dmt Surpierg | “‘sprvoq-A1eplorq way | Oi De SOD eOeD 37 16| 3| 4| 112] 90 5 ( 51] 28 139 6 Ips eli hyp ETON AO oo eo ee ee Cnc Uemt) Tene DS see enn ee we nO 0-0 es 68 . var Nien Ceapateaes a) ‘ CORT tC eat Neat Jena at Oar (le tt lena nn) i U ooo 0 ‘ (leet eee Voce met feat Ja) Poet Org ce ae) put reset sole en Tetina reer « oe Tote Goo oo eee 20 “spxvoq-epeen | CittheeUe Ceett a a6 coos ’ eto. tie (a) ers so oo. ' Cae ied amciae eal a a. of Oo OOo . Go . ' i Oi ats aetinan Ce ee ee Ce ee ee ’ Tk .@F- 9 eaiees Ce ai eany bo 0 9) ee an Temi at a Cet Iter ten ee SCY nt Gast Ga . Catt Weems Aye} [mation thw Unit yi auyumenomecs Oe le er oe ee ' 358 © CONG Or CODD Regions. West Greenland ...-..... Be Hatrader BE Gre WRU yp anh papel Point Barrow Point Belcher. Tey Cape-...--.---....--- bet Cape Lisburne.....-.---- Bee llerts| es Point Hope ..--.---.---.-.- 1 Kotzebue Sound. ...-.--. aa Hotham Inlet .......---. eaten Putnam River ........--. Ol ee ie Cape Kruzenstern. .--..-- ef Cape Hspenberg -.--..--.|--- Cape Prince of Wales ...| 1 Diomede Island Cape Wankarem .....-... bi Port Clarence........--.- eae Tehukehi...--. Pee cHs Ns Beis Mb King’s Island...... .-.-- as Sledge Island..........-- Dye Cape Nome St. Lawrence Island..... Shoes Poonook ........----.---- Zou seals Plover Bay ..---..--..--- Hsallasalts Kaviagamute .-.......-. Beales Golovina Bay...... ilatoy SS ATE | areas Pease I Cape Darby .-.--.-.--.---. BSE BS Nubviakhechu galuk Sees Sole ee Norton Bay ..--.---...-- Seabee Koyuk River ...--...-..- yee eae Shakotlik./....-......--- Gea ate Oonalakleet ..-.- lara lee Duitise Kegikhtowik ........---- sfolesull St. Michael .......--..--- Seales ale Dog-whip butts. Dog-harness toggles. Dog-harness swivels. Toboggins. | Snow-shoes. i Kayak-models. Pikmiktalik -............ awa) ae Pastoliki aceee se setsect se aleeee Norton Sound....-..--..- eel athe Yukon Delta and Mouth.!._.|. Razboiniksky . aepopicoclls Sabotnisky Mission....- Bye es | Manan ayy oes see e weet re lhe Upper Yukon...........- GALE Askinwks ies. i tsiececncee ela eel be Kashunuk......00.2....-. ea Kaialigumute............ Bee level Ookagamute.........-..-. pier Cape Vancouver...-...-. Be Nulokhtologamute .....- Beha Aginkchugamute.....---. 50 The Nunivak Island ......--. Be | esis Sfaganugamute.......--. Be oi ete ta | Anogogmute .......---.. Solos Kongiganagamute....... aeallee Koolvagavigamute ...... ta ae Chalitmute ...... deslsho Bay al Big Laker cis ccccisel- cred BP Nee lt Kuskokvim River .. Togiak River.. Tuniakhput .. 5 ee Rae FA Hee LWT) Re oat nee racancoadtbleernodionodivesdlee. Bach sone Roe ne 8 tO: bot: ' eae Cee wy ey ax ; | Dog-harness blocks. “oo: b Ko si@o= poof Su cat LS a aes 3) ea ee Gat sal ae mt rn ee pods 6 tt WOO ' ‘ iepen etetone sos ‘ , FO DOE DE Ce te Dav No tedaen? Poe DOD NT or Nene Cee ep On =o bso | Ooniaks. Sala malar ie alana: REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. is | Canoes, birch-bark models. ; ms : ROP | Ooniak-models. ‘tem | Paddles. ae | eee all bee eal so |sa ale aalie eal erie td Ssh ra orig eI eat rip) Aa a i: Co ee ata ae (aa aan eae se FL ee Cen ane aeta a Seclce ea] sel lool |g HL We A HS 2 TEST Sale CIs a eo an ee BS EE MeL Sue ecclesia DE Reyclrcal tees | el BAR| Peaster keene CEM eS eet a ann ere eae a i ee bn ae aT (ag Se au ata ipa ne a A CN ote SRS 1 |. Ur ARTA but kan | Paddle-yokes. De ar a ae ESC oh ees He exe Ie DRAGS eae ss a ye ey ee 2 a Bache: | Boat-hooks, complete. | Boat-hook hooks. | Ice-breaker for stem of kayak. | Water-tubes. ij ne 359 CATALOGUE OF ESKIMO COLLECTION. *sossorp [[od *poessolp ‘s][oq *sfo} SnoouR][e0stL “sjos ‘soouLWmoc ‘sjos ‘Suruivd ‘syouq “Surmes ‘syeg. ‘gos ‘szront) "8790001370 *S10} 000) ‘suid pue YO0[q SUITquIey “*sso1p-peoy eoueq “*SOAQ[S-00uR(, | “SspuvM-o0ueqd | “SYSCUL-LOS Ul *SHSUYL | “soysip ule *SOYSnIg-JuIeg “*SOInqor ‘ye Avy WO SIepI{s ‘1geds poy 03 yeAey KO y107 “yehvy wo our-roprdg “reads ploy 07 yekvy wo 4eeTO “ooy 10 ZooTq [1g 360 Fr | a] 2) o |S | = |'o 4 a/W\e |g 2 Regions. $/S|a2|e 3 ee JB Vie Nee s g Blala/a\sle).j2i.|4 elgle(elei¢/2/2)2) 3 Rie a aielels|s|e|s te} en] | HL) 2) 6 = lledt=| OL Oni) | on ee Siew! Solo Slalalalsialisn|si6ié6 Nushegak .......---.---- seillnet |e seein ta les| teen see Dialesenlinase Bristol] Bay.-..-. --.---- Bate 5G BOM eH ie lala clesccese| acest ate Sal eenes a ees Tliafana Lake..-........-- eke fase eens Sealers eee oleceel|s eer e | he Koggiung..-.-...-------- ep|leos|lecoel]- sole WHNsE!e B56 5445 do5550 soe Neral ASO cota ees oat Oavashikiesesceeeoses se sleee lose |sceale De sly Oonalashka.......--.---. Be ee ee Baers Chernovsky -......------|. Blea | sane aco aos Wrangel Bay ...-....-..- BS Se eral etal Selo hwremtall esis esate) esiealacer Kadiak Island........... Seine sleeedle cigs or Cook’s Inlet ..-.....-...- eS es ae ey Ie Se ee INU Che ke sae ees eee oa | seMlice ele tale Makmitatise secs sic ecrier-teten)|- el Se | eee sealeoe MWK Gee ercte eteicleieierasae ee ere |o pe Seales Bering’s Island .......--. wlelaie alert alts Pielabes Found insoutheastAlaska).. |..-}....|- mE te A Patera (ee Totals ese sscteysSe 9|7|]15) 35) 8} 29) 15| 69} 2) 15 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. hae 4 E 3 2 z F} ° . = & ) Oo a} | (Eli 3 Bila a PANE Sel ae Ss) Oo -~| aia} 2 z | a Bl S| a 5 o|j4#}]H4/9 ad -|>/ Oo] o|4/BIS Pen Mecca eS til en ees |e om Dl ey eel ton Ale | aa alsi|s|e/eieigis alaia|/o|s]o = Slajmai/alalslieia Bectilesc by ese Ssclicmallsan| ioe - 1 Eis bale ee SA Eee n|6/2/14/45|3\5\|3. 361 CATALOGUE OF ESKIMO COLLECTION. Peet eR ER SSR RS SES : ed ER RETETERTETIATIE ‘possoap ‘stioc | eae ee asa “soy snooueyjoosryy | Go) : : : ae ewe wom) fiiiiiiiiiitirele : ‘sjos ‘Supcaed ‘syong | PO es A ates Ba gn Sowa] iifiiitiifis eile youmyoum | Gi iiitiiiitee ia |] ‘sqoooomyg | fii iii iiiii:iiiie sropmog | fii iii:itiiii ir ida ‘emrd pur yooqq Suyqmey | ieee eee ee ae wowpwonemma| fiiiiiiii ihe |s wsotowa| fiiiiiiiiiile wpoeacomeg | it iiiiiiritiii i [s omowion | fiitmiriiti|s mem) ifi@iie eile souspamea | i iiiiiiiiiiiiiiile wumewea| fifiiiiiiisibie: | wma] fifiiiiliiiiiese[s qecoquowoons| ifififtisibii tis socnwoummods| fifiiiiifitisiile -anads prot oq edey 10 40K, | ol Se ney et tiny Rape aad anode ploy oy yuAus{ 10 9010 | ee eee ca . 362 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. B Regions. 3 oS S =| sth 2 A 1 | West Greenland....-........-...|------ 2s WA DTAC GRHe ps estate co eeretetste als 2 3 | Cumberland Gulf ..........--... 2 4 | Smith Sound ....--.-..---:-----.|------ 4 |) Salle Sessa) so ssheodcesd caasen)|sanoss 6 | Pelly Bay . seoconseoessssesoel|ssenc- 7| King William’s Land ...........|.-..-- 8| Mackenzie River.......--.-e----|--200- 9} Anderson River..----.---...--.. 108) Point, Barrow, 22 eccms\< pee oe ccinlal< = 11 | Point Belcher ....-..-......----- 12 | Icy Cape ........... 13 | Cape Lisburne.... 14 | Point Hope..--...--.. 15 , Kotzebue Sound 16))\ Hotham Inlet 2220-222 se sence 7a pPmtnamcRivetie cee s-\ee clic = 18 | Cape Espenberg 19 | Cape Prince of Wales -.--..-..-- 5 20 | Diomede Island ............-.... 6 21 | Cape Wankarem ............-...|...-.. 2250 ort Clarencemsanccsenteesceeees| tenes 23 eC HUG hilbe ety tateyal ste otelela ssceieieseal ee eteiote 244 Kanes Teland 2 102). sac sae) eae tee mete aes are aa le 3. Western railways, and their part in the extermination of the PIMA etoeis a Sorte aleln cay Sols 3b coca ein eras nee oan ara aonaeene Cn ON o9 MISUaAUICS OF the Sladehter ... 2.0.2. cdaceewes sesso veaecseees 7. The destruction of the northern herd..........-00. ---0-- ene H. Mis. 600, pt. 2——24. 369 486 488 490 490 492 492 498 502 370 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Part II.—THE EXTERMINATION—Continued. IV. Legislation to prevent useless slaughter...... .....--..-s-0..------- 513 V. Completeness of the wild buffalo’s extirpation.-.......--...--...--- 521 VI. Effects of the disappearance of the bison ........-.--..-..----- Bae ees) VII. Preservation of the species from absolute extinction ........-.....- 527 Part III.—THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION FOR SPECIMENS .-.--...-.------- 529 I. The exploration for specimens ys25-5- 25 22-.4eoe sees eee eens = 529 Te Phe: hin eos lak ee sees aoe ee cee eet cee eee eee eee 534 III. The mounted group in the National Museum ........--........---.- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Group of buffaloes in the National Museum -..............-...-.------- Frontispiece. Head of, boli outtalo eo. a. seer mee me ee ceria = Seater to face page.. 382 Slaughter of buffalo on Kansas Pacific Railroad .........--..-....----. dozee. 3-392 iButtaloicow, calf andwearrline 22.) sees smeiseeea eee ae eee erie do.... 398 SiOMee OOM AS Ae Ae Gee AS EGS ce Seo osscs secs eee do 34.402 Bul uta Oveeee ve ance sisal acesee ne eee yaaa enna eee see ee do.... 404 Bullsbuitalo;mear views scjsiseeeisaes) soos esate eae eee seen ea do.... 406 The development of the buffalo’s horns.............-2.---.------.----- dO 222. tks ACCIGEYL OWES 6 Saas Sachanehconn 4sdeu0 bapoooseAabodanscaccosoneedosece- do... 442 iBuftalo skinners ab WOrkK o.oo sc soc canes amino ciaesanies gem omnis ame ete do..-. 442 PIV. OeMIMUGeS) WOLkK io coo boa le cae che wera Oe cre tee ae ete tame ee do.... 444 Scene on the northern buffalo range.........-.-.---. .----+------------ do.... 444 Ealtebreed cals. Pols a. se coco ce Det aan oie Sh oe cee Se ees do.t2 2)" “494 Young half-breed: bmi i. o.oo eek eo bel ee do...- 458 Half-breed buffalo (domestic) cow .---.. -... --2. -<00 seen = eecens = ---- do..-. 458 he still-hunt,< oe. cehe cca selan boc Ales Sele eee Sh pee eee ee pe do.-.. 468 Wheichasexon horseback se. secc eM oanye scene Seo Seca e ee eee ae eee do.... 472 Cree Indians impounding bufialo.o2225.0 25 so. eos. io cat ae See See do..-. 478 MhewUrround sce sce e eee es oe eet eee eee 2 do.... 482 Indians hunting buffaloes on snow-shoes ......------------ +--+ ----2- do.... 484 NWihere the millions have gone). 2. senses asd eS We oa eee Se ee Orne wae oO Mropines/or the shunt 22 35). -co ote cei: Ss aeiesiae Se RE cone ea ae Ne OO cele tate MAPS. Sketch map of the hunt for buffalo................. Aig weed ed Osea: Map illustrating the extermination of the American “Sone Hepa aae eaters _.End of paper. PREFATORY NOTE. It is hoped that the following historical account of the discovery, partial utilization, and almost complete extermination of the great American bison may serve to cause the public to fully realize the folly of allowing all our most valuable and interesting American mam- mals to be wantonly destroyed in the same manner. The wild buffalo is practically gone forever, and in a few more years, when the whitened bones of the last bleaching skeleton shall have been picked up and shipped East for commercial uses, nothing will remain of him save his old, well-worn trails along the water-courses, a few museum specimens, and regret for his fate. If his untimely end fails even to point a moral that shall benefit the surviving species of mammals which are now being slaughtered in like manner, it will be sad indeed. Although Bison americanus is a true bison, according to scientific classification, and not a buffalo, the fact that more than sixty millions of people in this country unite in calling him a “buffalo,” and know him by no other name, renders it quite unnecessary for me to apologize for following, in part, a harmless custom which has now become so uni- versal that all the naturalists in the world could not change it if they would. W. T. H. 371 , etre ae i dla THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON, By WItLiam T. HoRNADAY, Superintendent of the National Zoological Park. PART I.—LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON. I. DISCOVERY OF ‘THE SPECIES. The discovery of the American bison, as first made by Europeans, occurred in the menagerie of a heathen king. In the year 1521, when Cortez reached Anahuac, the American bison was seen for the first time by civilized HKuropeans, if we may be per- mitted to thus characterize the horde of blood-thirsty plunder-seekers who fought their way to the Aztec capital. With a degree of enter- prise that marked him as an enlightened monarch, Montezuma main- tained, for the instruction of his people, a well-appointed menagerie, of -_ which the historian De Solis wrote as follows (1724): “In the second Square of the same House were the Wild Beasts, which were either presents to Montezuma, or taken by his Hunters, in strong Cages of Timber, rang’d in good Order, and under Cover: Lions, Tygers, Bears, and all others of the savage Kind which New-Spain produced; among which the greatest Rarity was the Mexican Bull; a wonderful composition of divers Animals. It has crooked Shoulders, with a Bunch onits Back like a Camel; its Flanks dry, its Tail large, and its Neck cover’d with Hair like a Lion. It is cloven footed, its Head armed like that of a Bull, which it resembles in Fierceness, with no less strength and Agility.” Thus was the first-seen buffalo described. The nearest locality from whence it could have come was the State of Coahuila, in northern Mexico, between 400 and 500 miles away, and at that time vehicles were unknown to the Aztecs. But for the destruction of the whole mass of the written literature of the Aztecs by the priests of the Span- ish Conquest, we might now be reveling in historical accounts of the bison which would make the oldest of our present records seem of compar- atively recent date. Nine years after the event referred to above, or in 1530, another Spanish explorer, Alvar Nufiez Cabeza, afterwards called Cabeza de Vaca—or, in other words “ Cattle Cabeza,” the prototype of our own distinguished “ Buffalo Bill”—-was wrecked on the Gulf coast, west of 373 374 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. the delta of the Mississippi, from whence he wandered westward through what is now the State of Texas. In southeastern Texas he discovered the American bison on his native heath. So far as can be ascertained, this was the earliest discovery of the bison in a wild state, and the _ description of the species as recorded by the explorer is of historical interest. It is brief and superficial. The unfortunate explorer took very little interest in animated nature, except as it contributed to the sum of his daily food, which was then the all-important subject of his thoughts. He almost starved. This is all he has to say:* “Cattle come as far as this. I have seen them three times, and eaten of their meat. I think they are about the size of those in Spain. They have small horns like those of Morocco, and the hair long and flocky, like that of the merino. Some are light brown (pardillas) and others black. To my judgment the flesh is finer and sweeter than that of this country [Spain]. The Indians make blankets of those that are not full grown, and of the larger they make shoes and bucklers. They come as far as the sea-coast of Florida [now Texas], and in a direction from the north, and range over a district of more than 400 leagues. In the whole extent of plain over which they roam, the people who live bordering upon it descend and kill them for food, and thus a great many skins are scattered throughout the country.” Coronado was the next explorer who penetrated the country of the buffalo, which he accomplished from the west, by way of Arizona and New Mexico. He crossed the southern part of the ‘“* Panhandle” of Texas, to the edge of what is now the Indian Territory, and returned through the same region. It was in the year 1542 that he reached the buffalo country, and traversed the plains that were ‘full of crooke- backed oxen, as the mountaine Serena in Spaine is of sheepe.” This is the description of the animal as recorded by one of his followers, Casta- Tieda, and translated by W. W. Davis: t “The first time we encountered the buffalo, all the horses took to flight on seeing them, for they are horrible to the sight.” “They have a broad and short face, eyes two palms from each other, and projecting in such a manner sideways that they can see a pursuer. Their beard is like that of goats, and so long that it drags the ground when they lower the head. They have, on the anterior portion of the body, a frizzled hair like sheep’s wooi; it is very fine upon the croup, and sleek like a lion’s mane. Their horns are very short and thick, and can scarcely be seen through the hair. They always change their hair in May, and at this season they really resemble lions. To make it drop more quickly, for they change it as adders do their skins, they roll among the brush-wood which they find in the ravines. . ‘“‘ Their tail is very short, and terminates in a great tuft. When they run they carry it in the air like scorpions. When quite young they are * Davis’ Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. 1869. P. 67. tThe Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. Davis. 1869. Pp. 206-7. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. Dio tawny, and resemble our calves; but as age increases they change color and form. “Another thing which struck us was that all the old buffaloes that we killed had the left ear cloven, while it was entire in the young; we could never discover the reason of this. “Their wool is so fine that handsome clothes would certainly be made of it, but it can not be dyed for it is tawny red. We were much sur- prised at sometimes meeting innumerable herds of bulls without a single cow, and other herds of cows without bulls.” Neither De Soto, Ponce de Leon, Vasquez de Ayllon, nor Pamphilo de Narvaez ever saw a buffalo, for the reason that all their explorations were made south of what was then the habitat of that animal. At the time De Soto made his great exploration from Florida northwestward to the Mississippi and into Arkansas (1539-’41) he did indeed pass through country in northern Mississippi and Louisiana that was after- ward inhabited by the buffalo, but at that time not one was to be found there. Some of his soldiers, however, who were sent into the northern part of Arkansas, reported having seen buffalo skins in the possession of the Indians, and were told that live buffaloes were to be found 5 or 6 leagues north of their farthest point. The earliest discovery of the bison in Eastern North America, or in- deed anywhere north of Coronado’s route, was made somewhere near Washington, District of Columbia, in 1612, by an English navigator named Samuell Argoll,* and narrated as follows: ‘*As soon as I had unladen this corne, I set my men to the felling of Timber, for the building of a Frigat, which I had left half finished at Point Comfort, the 19. of March: and returned myself with the ship into Pembrook [Potomac] River, and so discovered to the head of it, which is about 65. leagues into the Land, and navigable for any ship. And then marching into the Countrie, I found great store of Cattle as big as Kine, of which the Indians that were my guides killed a couple, which we found to be very good and wholesome meate, and are very easie to be killed, in regard they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts of the wildernesse.” It is to be regretted that the narrative of the explorer affords no clew to the precise locality of this interesting discovery, but since it is doubtful that the mariner journeyed very far on foot from the head of navigation of the Potomac, it seems highly probable that the first American bison seen by Europeans, other than the Spaniards, was found within 15 miles, or even less, of the capital of the United States, and possibly within the District of Columbia itself. : The first meeting of the white man with the buffalo on the northern boundary of that animal’s habitat occurred in 1679, when Father Hen- *Purchas: His Pilgrimes. (1625.) Vol. 1v, p. 1765. ‘‘A letter of Sir Samuel Ar- goll touching his Voyage to Virginia, and actions there. Written to Master Nicholas Hawes, June, 1613.” 376 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. nepin ascended the St. Lawrence to the great lakes, and finally Bene trated the great wilderness as far as western Illinois. The next meeting with the buffalo on the Atlantic slope was in Octo- ber, 1729, by a party of surveyors under Col. William Byrd, who were engaged in surveying the boundary between North Carolina and Vir- ginia. As the party journeyed up from the coast, marking the line which now constitutes the interstate boundary, three buffaloes were seen on Sugar-Tree Creek, but none of them were killed. On the return journey, in November, a bull buffalo was killed on Sugar-Tree Creek, which is in Halifax County, Virginia, within 5 miles of Big Buffalo Creek; longitude 78° 40” W., and 155 miles from the coast.* ‘It was found all alone, tho’ Buffaloes Seldom are.” The meat is spoken of as “a Rarity,” not met at all on the expedition up. The animal was found in thick woods, which were thus feelingly described: ‘““The woods were thick great Part of this Day’s Journey, so that we were forced to scuffle hard to advance 7 miles, being equal in fatigue to double that distance of Clear and Open Ground.” One of the creeks which the party crossed was christened Buffalo Creek, and “so named from the frequent tokens we discovered of that American Behemoth.” In October, 1733, on another surveying expedition, Colonel Byrd’s party had the good fortune to kill another buffalo near Sugar-Tree Creek, which incident is thus described :t ‘“‘ We pursued our journey thro’ uneven and perplext woods, and in the thickest of them had the Fortune to knock down a Young Buffalo 2 years old. Providence threw this vast animal in our way very Season- ably, just as our provisions began to fail us. And it was the more wel- come, too, because it was change of dyet, which of all Varietys, next to that of Bed-fellows, is the most agreeable. We had lived upon Venison and Bear till our stomachs loath’d them almost as much as the Hebrews of old did their Quails. Our Butchers were so unhandy at their Busi- ness that we grew very lank before we cou’d get our Dinner. But when it came, we found it equal in goodness to the best Beef. They made it the longer because they kept Sucking the Water out of the Guts in im- itation of the Catanba Indians, upon the belief that it is a great Cordial, and will even make them drunk, or at least very Gay.” A little later a solitary bull buffalo was found, but spared, the earliest instance of the kind on ae and which had few successors to keep it company. Il. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. The range of the American bison extended over about one-third of the entire continent of North America. Starting almost at tide-water * Westover Manuscript. Col. William Byrd. Vol. 1, p. 172. t Vol. 11, pp. 24, 29, $ Ib., p. 28. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 3717 on the Atlantic coast, it extended westward through a vast tract of dense forest, across the Alleghany Mountain system to the prairies along the Mississippi, and southward to the Delta of that great stream. Although the great plains country of the West was the natural home of the species, where it flourished most abundantly, it also wandered south across Texas to the burning plains of northeastern Mexico, west- ward across the Rocky Mountains into New Mexico, Utah, and Idaho, and northward across a vast treeless waste to the bleak and inhospita- ble shores of the Great Slave Lake itself. Itis more than probable that had the bison remained unmolested by man and uninfluenced by him, he would eventually have crossed the Sierra Nevadas and the Coast Range and taken up his abode in the fertile valleys of the Pacific slope. Had the bison remained for afew more centuries in undisturbed pos- session of his range, and with liberty to roam at will over the North American continent, it is almost certain that several distinctly recog- nizable varieties would have been produced. The buffalo of the hot regions in the extreme south would have become a short-haired animal like the gaur of India and the African buffalo. The individuals inhab- iting the extreme north, in the vicinity of Great Slave Lake, for exam- ple, would have developed still longer hair, and taken on more of the dense hairyness of the musk ox. In the “wood” or “‘ mountain buffalo” we already have a distinct foreshadowing of the changes which would have taken place in the individuals which made their permanent resi- dence upon rugged mountains. It would be an easy matter to fill a volume with facts relating to the geographical distribution of Bison americanus and the dates of its occur- rence and disappearance in the multitude of different localities embraced within the immense area it once inhabited. The capricious shiftings of certain sections of the great herds, whereby large areas which for many years had been utterly unvisited by buffaloes suddenly became overrun by them, could be followed up indefinitely, but to little purpose. In order to avoid wearying the reader with a mass of dates and references, the map accompanying this paper has been prepared to show at a glance the approximate dates at which the bison finally disappeared from the various sections of its habitat. In some cases the date given is coin- cident with the death of the last buffalo known to have been killed in a given State or Territory; in others, where records are meager, the date given is the nearest approximation, based on existing records. In the preparation of this map I have drawn liberally from Mr. J. A. Allen’s admirable monograph of “The American Bison,” in which the author has brought together, with great labor and invariable accuracy, a vast amount of historical data bearing upon this subject. In this connection I take great pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to Professor Allen’s work. While it is inexpedient to include here all the facts that might be recorded with reference to the discovery, existence, and ultimate extine- 378 R PORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. tion of the bison in the various portions of its former habitat, it is yet worth while to sketch briefly the extreme limits of its range. In doing this, our starting point will be the Atlantic slope east of the Allegha- nies, and the reader will do well to refer to the large map. _ DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.—There is no indisputable evidence that the bison ever inhabited this precise locality, but it is probable that it did. In 1612 Captain Argoll sailed up the ‘“‘ Pembrook River” to the head of navigation (Mr. Allen believes this was the James River, and not the Potomac) and marched inland a few miles, where he discovered buffaloes, some of which were killed by his Indian guides. If this river was the Potomac, and most authorities believe that it was, the buffaloes seen by Captain Argoll might easily have been in whatis now the District of Columbia. Admitting the existence of a reasonable doubt as to the identity of the Pembrook River of Captain Argoll, there is yet another bit of his- tory which fairly establishes the fact that in the early part of the sev- enteenth century buffaloes inhabited the banks of the Potomac between this city and the lower falls. In 1624 an English fur-trader named Henry Fleet came hither to trade with the Anacostian Indians, who - then inhabited the present site of the city of Washington, and with the tribes of the Upper Potomac. In his journal (discovered a few years since in the Lambeth Library, London) Fleet gave a quaint description of the city’s site as it then appeared. The following is from the explorer’s journal: ‘¢ Monday, the 25th June, we set sail for the town of Tohoga, where we came to an anchor 2 leagues short of the falls. * * * This place, without question, is the most pleasant and healthful place in all this country, and most convenient for habitation, the air temperate in summer and not violent in winter. It aboundeth with all manner of fish. The Indians in one night commonly will catch thirty sturgeons in a place where the river is not above 12 fathoms broad, and as for deer, buffaloes, bears, turkeys, the woods do Swarm with them. * * * The 27th of June I manned my shallop and went up with the flood, the tide rising about 4 feet at this place. We had not rowed above 3 miles, but we might hear the falls to roar about 6 miles distant.” * MARYLAND.—There is no evidence that the bison ever inhabited Maryland, except what has already been adduced with reference to the District of Columbia. If either of the references quoted may be taken as conclusive proof, and I see no reason for disputing either, then the fact that the bison once ranged northward from Virginia into Maryland is fairly established. There is reason to expect that fossil remains of Bison americanus will yet be found both in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and I venture to predict that this will yet occur. VIRGINIA.—Of the numerous references to the occurrence of the bison in Virginia, it is sufficient to allude to Col. William Byrd’s meetings * Charles Burr Todd’s ‘‘ Story of Washington, p. 18, New York, 1889. ie ae Bplay. Tete i. yu ay : : , “ W THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 379 _ with buffaloes in 1620, while surveying the southern boundary of the State, about 155 miles from the coast, as already quoted; the refer- ences to the discovery of buffaloes on the eastern side of the Virginia mountains, quoted by Mr. Allen from Salmon’s “ Present State of Vir- ginia,” page 14 (London, 1737), and the capture and domestication of buffaloes in 1701 by the Huguenot settlers at Manikintown, which was situated on the James River, about 14 miles above Richmond. Appar- ently, buffaloes were more numerous in Virginia than in any other of the Atlantic States. NortH CARoLInNA.—Colonel Byrd’s discoveries along the inter-state boundary between Virginia and North Carolina fixes the presence of the bison in the northern part of the latter State at the date of the survey. The following letter to Prof. G. Brown Goode, dated Birdsnest post-office, Va., August 6, 1888, from Mr. C. R. Moore, furnishes reliable evidence of the presence of the buffalo at another point in North Car- olina: ‘In the winter of 1857 I was staying for the night at the house of an old gentleman named Houston. I should judge he was seventy then. He lived near Buffalo Ford, on the Catawba River, about 4 miles from Statesville, N.C. I asked him how the ford got its name. He told me that his grandfather told him that when he was a boy the buf- falo crossed there, and that when the rocks in the river were bare they would eat the moss that grew upon them.” The point indicated is in | longitude 81° west and the date not far from 1750. SouTH CAROLINA.—Professor Allen cites numerous authorities, whose observations furnish abundant evidence of the existence of the buffalo in South Carolina during the first half of the eighteenth century. From these it is quite evident that in the northwestern half of the State buf- faloes were once fairly numerous. Keating declares, on the authority of Colhoun, “and we know that some of those who first settled the Abbeville district in South Carolina, in 1756, found the buffalo there.” * This appears to be the only definite locality in which the presence of the species was recorded. GEORGIA.—The extreme southeastern limit of the buffalo in the United States was found on the coast of Georgia, near the mouth of the Altamaha River, opposite St. Simon’s Island. Mr. Francis Moore, in his ‘‘ Voyage to Georgia,” made in 1736 and reported upon in 1744,t makes the following observation: “The island [St. Simon’s] abounds with deer and rabbits. There are no buffalo in it, though there are large herds upon the main.” Else- where in the same document (p. 122) reference is made to buffalo-hunt- ing by Indians on the main-land near Darien. In James EH. Oglethorpe’s enumeration (A. D. 1733) of the wild beasts of Georgia and South Carolina he mentions ‘deer, elks, bears, wolves, and buffaloes.”¢ * Long’s Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter’s River, 1823, m1, p. 26. t Coll. Georgia Hist. Soc., 1, p. 117. ¢Ibid., I, p. 51. 380 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Up to the time of Moore’s voyage to Georgia the interior was almost wholly unexplored, and it is almost certain that had not the “large herds of buffalo on the main-land” existed within a distance of 20 or 30 miles or less from the coast, the colonists would have had no knowledge of them; nor would the Indians have taken to the war-path against the whites at Darien “under pretense of hunting buffalo.” ALABAMA.—Having established the existence of the bison in north- wesiern Georgia almost as far down as the center of the State, and in Mississippi down to the neighborhood of the coast, it was naturally expected that a search of historical records would reveal evidence that the bison once inhabited the northern half of Alabama. A most careful search through all the records bearing upon the early history and ex- ploration of Alabama, to be found in the Library of Congress, failed to discover the slightest reference to the existence of the species in that State, or even to the use of buffalo skins by any of the Alabama In- dians. While it is possible that such a hiatus really existed, in this instance its existence would be wholly unaccountable. I believe that the buffalo once inhabited the northern half of Alabama, even though history fails to record it. LovuIsIANA AND MISSISSIPPI.—At the beginning of the eighteenth century, buffaloes were plentiful in southern Mississippi and Louisiana, not only down to the coast itself, from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi, but even in the very Delta of the Mississippi, as the following record shows. In a “* Memoir addressed to Count de Pontchartrain,” December 10, 1697, the author, M. de Remonville, describes the country around the mouth of the Mississippi, now the State of Louisiana, and further Says:* AN great abundance of wild cattle are also found there, which might be domesticated by rearing up the young calves.” Whether these ani- mals were buffaloes might be considered an open question but for the following additional information, which affords positive evidence: “The trade in furs and peltry would be immensely valuable and ex- ceedingly profitable. We could also draw from thence a great quantity of buffalo hides every year, as the plains are filled with the animals.” In the same volume, page 47, in a document entitled “Annals of Loui- siana from 1698 to 1722, by M. Penicaut” (1698), the author records the presence of the buffalo on the Gulf coast on the banks of the Bay St. Louis, as follows: “The next day we left Pea Island, and passed through the Little Rigolets, which led into the sea about three leagues from the Bay of St. Louis. We encamped at the entrance of the bay, near a fountain of water that flows from the hills, and which was called at this time Belle Fountain. We hunted during several days upon the coast of this bay, and filled our boats with the meat of the deer, buffa- loes, and other wild game which we had killed, and carried it to the fort (Biloxi).” * Hist. Coll. of Louisiana and Florida, B. F. French, 1869, first series, p. 2. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 381 The occurrence of the buffalo at Natchez is recorded,* and also (p. 11&) at the mouth of Red River, as follows: ‘‘ We ascended the Missis- sippi to Pass Manchae, where we killed fifteen buffaloes. The next day we landed again, and killed eight more buffaloes and as many deer.” The presence of the buffalo in the Delta of the Mississippi was ob- served and recorded by D’Iberville in 1699.+ According to Claiborne,t the Choctaws have an interesting tradition in regard to the disappearance of the buffalo from Mississippi. It re- lates that during the early part of the eighteenth century a great drought occurred, which was particularly severe in the prairie region. For three years not a drop of rain fell. The Nowubee and Tombigbee Rivers dried up and the forests perished. The elk and buffalo, which up to that time had been numerous, all migrated to the country beyond the Mississippi, and never returned. TExAS.—It will be remembered that it was in southeastern Texas, in all probability within 50 miles of the present city of Houston, that the earliest discovery of the American bison on its native heath was made in 1530 by Cabeza de Vaca, a half-starved, half-naked, and wholly wretched Spaniard, almost the only surviving member of the celebrated expedition which burned its ships behind it. In speaking of the buffalo jn Texas at the earliest periods of which we have any historical record, Professor Allen says: “ They were also found in immense herds on the coast of Texas, at the Bay of St. Bernard (Matagorda Bay), and on the lower part of the Colorado (Rio Grande, according to some authori- ties), by La Salle, in 1685, and thence northwards across the Colorado, Brazos, and Trinity Rivers. Joutel says that when in latitude 28° 51’ “the sight of abundance of goats and bullocks, differing in shape from ours, and running along the coast, heightened our earnestness to be ashore.” They afterwards landed in St. Louis Bay (now called Mata- gorda Bay), where they found buffaloes in such numbers on the Colo- rado River that they called it La Riviére aux Beufs.§ According to Professor Allen, the buffalo did not inhabit the coast of Texas east of the mouth of the Brazos River. : It is a curious coincidence that the State of Texas, wherein the ear- liest discoveries and observations upon the bison were made, should also now furnish a temporary shelter for one of the last remnants of the great herd. MeExico.—In regard to the existence of the bison south of the Rio Grande, in old Mexico, there appears to be but one authority on record, Dr. Berlandier, who at the time of his death left in MS. a work on the mammals of Mexico. At one time this MS. was in the Smithso- nian Institution, but it is there no longer, nor is its fate even ascertain- * Tbid., pp. 88-91. t Hist. Coll. of Louisiana and Florida, French, second series, p. 58. } Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State, p. 484. § The American Bisons, Living and Extinct, p, 132. 382 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. able. It is probable that it was burned in the fire that destroyed a portion of the Institution in 1865. Fortunately Professor Allen ob- tained and published in his monograph (in French) a copy of that por- tion of Dr. Berlandier’s work relating to the presence of the bison in Mexico,* of which the following is a translation: ‘¢In Mexico, when the Spaniards, ever greedy for riches, pushed their explorations to the north and northeast, it was not long before they met with the buffalo. In 1602 the Franciscan monks who discovered Nuevo Leon encountered in the neighborhood of Monterey numerous herds of these quadrupeds. They were also distributed in Nouvelle Biscaye (States of Chihuahua and Durango), and they sometimes ad- vaneed to the extreme south of that country. In the eighteenth cen- tury they concentrated more and more toward the north, but still re- mained very abundant in the neighborhood of the province of Bexar. At the commencement of the nineteenth century we see them recede gradually in the interior of the country to such an extent that they be- came day by day scarcer and scarcer about the settlements. Now, it is not in their periodical migrations that we meet them near Bexar. Every year in the spring, in April or May, they advance toward the north, to return again to the southern regions in September and Octo- ber. The exact limits of these annual migrations are unknown; it is, however, probable that in the north they never go beyond the banks of the Rio Bravo, at least in the States of Cohahuila and Texas. Toward the north, not being checked by the currents of the Missouri, they pro- gress even as far as Michigan, and they are found in summer in the Territories and interior States of the United States of North America. The route which these animals follow in their migrations occupies a width of several miles, and becomes so marked that, besides the verdure destroyed, one would believe that the fields had been covered with manure. “These migrations are not general, for certain bands do not seem to follow the general mass of their kin, but remain stationary throughout the whole year on the prairies coverea with a rich vegetation on the banks of the Rio de Guadelupe and the Rio Colorado of Texas, not far from the shores of the Gulf, to the east of the colony of San Felipe, precisely at the same spot where La Salle and his traveling companions saw them two hundred years before. The Rev. Father Damian Man- sanet saw them also as in our days on the shores of Texas, in regions which have since been covered with the habitations, hamlets, and villages of the new colonists, and from whence they have disappeared since 1828. ‘“« From the observations made on this subject we may conclude that the buffalo inhabited the temperate zone of the New World, and that they inhabited it at ali times. Im the north they never advanced he- yond the 48th or 58th degree of latitude, and in the south, , although * The ‘Anonenn Bisons, PP. 129-130. Report of National Museum, 1887.—Hornaday. PLATE ll. HEAD OF BUFFALO BULL. Ss From specimen in the National Museum Group. Reproduced from the Cosmopolitan Magazine, by permission of the publishers. i ¢ Ter ee / THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 383 they may have reached as low as 25°, they scarcely passed beyond the 27th or 28th degree (north latitude), at least in the inhabited and known portions of the country.” New Mexico.—In 1542 Coronado, while on his celebrated march, met with vast herds of buffalo on the Upper Pecos River, since which the presence of the species in the valley of the Pecos has been well known. In describing the journey of Espejo down the Pecos River in the year 1584, Davis says (Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, p. 260): «They passed down a river they called Rio de las Vacas, or the River of Oxen [the river Pecos, and the same Cow River that Vaca describes, says Professor Allen], and was so named because of the great number of buffaloes that fed upon its banks. They traveled down this river the distance of 120 leagues, all the way passing through great herds of buffaloes.” Professor Allen locates the western boundary of the buffalo in New Mexico even as far west as the western side of Rio Grande del Norte. UtanH.—It is well known that buffaloes, though in very small num- bers, once inhabited northeastern Utah, and that a few were killed by the Mormon settlers prior to 1840 in the vicinity of Great Salt Lake. In the museum at Salt Lake City I was shown a very ancient mounted head of a buffalo bull which was said to have been killed in the Salt Lake Valley. It is doubtful that such was really fact. There is no evidence that the bison ever inhabited the southwestern half of Utah, and, considering the general sterility of the Territory as a whole pre- vious to its development by irrigation, it is surprising that any buffalo in his senses would ever set foot in it at all. IpAHO.—The former range of the bison probably embraced the whole of Idaho. Fremont states that in the spring of 1824 “the buffalo were spread in immense numbers over the Green River and Bear River Valleys, and through all the country lying between the Colorado, or Green River of the Gulf of California, and Lewis’ Fork of the Columbia _ River, the meridian of Fort Hall then forming the western limit of their range. [In J. K. Townsend’s “ Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains,” in 1834, he records the occurrence of herds near the Mellade and Boise and Salmon Rivers, ten days’ journey—200 miles—west of Fort Hall.] The buffalo then remained for many years in that country, and frequently moved down the valley of the Columbia, on both sides of the river, as far as the Fishing Falls. Below this point they never descended in any numbers. About 1834 or 1835 they began to diminish very rapidly, and continued to decrease until 1838 or 1840, when, with the country we have just described, they entirely abandoned all the waters of the Pacific north of Lewis’s Fork of the Columbia [now called Snake] River. At that time the Flathead Indians were in the habit of finding their buffalo on the heads of Salmon River and other streams of the Columbia, 384 . REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. OREGON.—The only evidence on record of the occurrence of the bison in Oregon is the following, from Professor Allen’s memoir (p. 119): ‘‘ Respecting its former occurrence in eastern Oregon, Prof. O.C. Marsh, under date of New Haven, February 7, 1875, writes me as follows: ‘The most western point at which I have myself observed remains of the buffalo was in 1873, on Willow Creek, eastern Oregon, among the foot- hills on the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. This is about latitude 440, The bones were perfectly characteristic, although nearly decom- posed.’” The remains must have been those of a solitary and very enterpris ing straggler. THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES (British).—At two or three points only did the buffaloes of the British Possessions cross the Rocky Mountain barrier toward British Columbia. One was the pass through which the Canadian Pacific Railway now runs, 200 miles north of the international boundary. According to Dr. Richardson, the number of buffaloes which crossed the mountains at that point were sufficiently noticeable to constitute a feature of the fauna on the western side of the range. It is said that buffaloes also crossed by way of the Koote- nai Pass, which is only a few miles north of the boundary line, but the number which did so must have been very small. As might be expected from the character of the country, the favorite range of the bison in British America was the northern extension of the great pasture region lying between the Missouri River and Great Slave Lake. The most northerly occurrence of the bison is recorded as an observation of Franklin in 1820 at Slave Point, on the north side of Great Slave Lake. “A few frequent Slave Point, on the north side of the lake, but this is the most northern situation in which they were observed by Captain Franklin’s party.” * Dr. Richardson defined the eastern boundary of the bison’s range in British Ameriéa as follows: ‘“*They do not frequent any of the dis- tricts formed of primitive rocks, and the limits of their range to the east- © ward, within the Hudson’s Bay Company’s territories, may be correctly marked on the map by a line commencing in longitude 979, on the Red River, which flows into the south end of Lake Winnipeg, crossing the Saskatchewan to the westward of the Basquian Hill, and running thence by the Athapescow to the east end of Great Slave Lake. Their migra- tions westward were formerly limited to the Rocky Mountain range, and they are still unknown in New Caledonia and on the shores of the Pa- cific to the north of the Columbia River; but of late years they have found out a passage across the mountains near the sources of the Sas- katchewan, and their numbers to the westward are annually increasing.t Great Slave Lake.—That the buffalo inhabited the southern shore of this lake as late as 1871 is well established by the following letter from * Sabine, Zoological Appendix to ‘‘ Franklin’s Journey,” p. 668, tFauna Boreali-Americana, vol. 1, p. 279-280. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 385 Mr. BK. W. Nelson to Mr. J. A. Allen, under date of July 11, 1877:* “T have met here [St. Michaels, Alaska] two gentlemen who crossed the mountains from British Columbia and came to Fort Yukon through British America, from whom I have derived some information about the buffalo (Bison americanus) which will be of interest to you. These gentlemen descended the Peace River, and on about the one hundred and eighteenth degree of longitude made a portage to Hay River, di- rectly north. On this portage they saw thousands of buffalo skulls, and - old trails, in some instances 2 or 3 feet deep, leading east and west. They wintered on Hay River near its entrance into Great Slave Lake, and here found the buffalo still common, occupying a restricted territory along the southern border of the lake. This was in 1871. They made inquiry concerning the large number of skulls seen by them on the portage, and learned that about fifty years before, snow fell to the esti- mated depth of 14 feet, and so enveloped the animals that they perished by thousands. It is asserted that these buffaloes are larger than those of the plains.” MINNESOTA AND WIsSconsIN.—A line drawn from Winnipeg to Chi- cago, curving slightly to the eastward in the middle portion, will very nearly define the eastern boundary of the buffalo’s range in Minnesota and Wisconsin. ILLINOIS AND INDIANA.—The whole of these two States were formerly © inhabited by the buffalo, the fertile prairies of Illinois being particu- larly suited to their needs. It is doubtful whether the range of the species extended north of the northern boundary of Indiana, but since ~ southern Michigan was as well adapted to their support as Ohio or In- diana, their absence from that State must have been due more to acci- dent than design. Out0.—The southern shore of Lake Erie forms part of the northern boundary of the bison’s range in the eastern United States. La Hon- tan explored Lake Erie in 1687 and thus describes its southern shore: “©T can not express what quantities of Deer and Turkeys are to be found in these Woods, and in tne vast Meads that lye upon the South side of the Lake. At the bottom of the Lake we find beeves upon the Banks of two pleasant Rivers that disembogue into it, without Cataracts or Rapid Currents.”+ It thus appears that the southern shore of Lake Erie forms part of the northern boundary of the buffalo’s range in the eastern United States. NEw Yorxk.—In regard to the presence of the bison in any portion of the State of New York, Professor Allen considers the evidence as fairly conclusive that it once existed in western New York, not only in the vicinity of the eastern end of Lake Erie, where now stands the city of Buffalo, at the mouth of a large creek of the same name, but also on the shore of Lake Ontario, probably in Orleans County. In his monograph *American Naturalist, x1, p. 624, tJ. A. Allen’s American Bisons, p. 107. 11. Mis. 600, pt. 2 25 386 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. of ‘The American Bisons,” page 107, he gives the following testimony and conclusions on this point: ‘“‘The oceurrence of a stredm in western New York, called Buffalo Creek, which empties into the eastern end of Lake Erie, is commonly aan as traditional evidence of its occurrence at this point, but oe tive testimony to this eff-ct has thus far escaped me. “This locality, if it actually came so far eastward, must have formed the eastern limit of its range along the lakes. I ace found only highly questionable allusions to the occurrence of buffaloes along the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Keating, on the authority of Colhoun, how- ever, has cited a passage from Morton’s “New English Canaan” as proof of their former existence in the neighborhood of this lake. Mor- ton’s statement is based on Indian reports, and the context gives suffi- cient evidence of the general vagueness of his knowledge of the region of which he was speaking. The passage, printed in 1637 is as follows: They [the Indians] have also made descriptions of great heards of well growne beasts that live about the parts of this lake [ Erocoise] such as the Christian world (untill this discovery) hath not bin made ac- quainted with. These Beasts are of the bignesse of a Cowe, their flesh being very good foode, their hides good lether, their fleeces very usefull, being a kinde of wolle as fine almost as the wolle of the Beaver, and the Salvages doe make garments thereof. It is tenne yeares since first the relation of these things came to the eares of the English.’ The ‘ beast’ to which allusion is here made [says Professor Allen] is unquestionably the buffalo, but the locality of Lake ‘Erocoise’ is not so easily settled. Colhoun regards it, and probably correctly, as identical with Lake Ontario. * * * The extreme northeastern limit of the former range of the buffalo seems to have been, as above stated, in western New York, near the eastern end of Lake Erie. That it probably ranged thus far there is fair evidence.” PENNSYLVANIA.—From the eastern end of Lake Erie the boundary of the bison’s habitat extends south into western Pennsylvania, to a marsh called Buffalo Swamp on a map published by Peter Kalm in 1771. Professor Allen says it “is indicated as situated between the Alleghany River and the West Branch of the Susquehanna, near the heads of the Licking and Toby’s Creeks (apparently the streams now called Oil Creek and Clarion Creek).” In this region there were at one time thousands of buffaloes. While there is not at hand any positive evidence that the buffalo ever inhabited the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania, its presence in the locality mentioned above, and in West Virginia generally, on the south, furnishes sufficient reason for extend- ing the boundary so as to include the southwestern portion of the State and connect with our starting point, the District of Columbia. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 387 III. ABUNDANCE. \ Of all the quadrupeds that have lived upon the earth, probably no other species has ever marshaled such innumerable hosts as those of the American bison. It would have been as easy to count or to esti- mate the number of leaves in a forest as to calculate the number of buffaloes living at any given time during the history of the species pre- vious to 1870. Even in South Central Africa, which has always been ex- ceedingly prolific in great herds of game, it is probable that all its quadrupeds taken together on an equal area would never have more than equaled the total number of buffalo in this country forty years ago. To an African hunter, such a statement may seem incredible, but it appears to be fully warranted by the literature of both branches of the subject. . Not only did the buffalo formerly range eastward far into the forest regions of western New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, but in some places it was so abundant as to cause remark. In Mr. J. A. Allen’s valuable monograph* appear a great number of interesting historical references on this subject, as indeed to every other relating to the buffalo, a few of which I will take the liberty of quoting. In the vicinity of the spot where the town of Clarion now stands, in northwestern Pennsylvania, Mr. Thomas Ashe relates that one of the first settlers built his log cabin near a salt spring which was visited by buffaloesin such numbers that ‘“ he supposed there could not have been less than two thousand in the neighborhood of the spring.” During the first years of his residence there, the buffaloes came in droves of about three hundred each. Of the Blue Licks in Kentucky, Mr. John Filson thus wrote, in 1784: “The amazing herds of buffaloes which resort thither, by their size and - number, fill the traveller with amazement and terror, especially when * All who are especially interested in the life history of the buffalo, both scientific and eeonomical, will do well to consult Mr. Allen’s monograph, ‘‘The American Bisons, Living and Extinct,” ifit beaccessible. Unfortunately itis a difficult matter for the general reader to obtain it. Areprint of the work as originally published, but omitting the map, plates, and such of the subject-matter as relates to the extinct species, appears in Hayden’s ‘‘ Report of the Geological Survey of the Territories,” for 1875 (pp. 443-587), but the volume has for several years been out of print. The memoir as originally published has the-following titles: Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Kentucky. | N. S. Shaler, Director. | Vol. I. Part II, | — | The American Bisons, | living and extinct. | By J. A. Allen. | With twelve plates and map. | — | University press, Cambridge: | Welch, Bigelow § Co. | 1876. ‘ Memoris of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, | at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. | Vol. IV. No.10. | —| The American Bisons, | living and extinct. | By J. A. Allen. | Published by permission of N. S. Shaler, Director of the Kentucky | Geological Survey. | With twelve plates and a map. | University press, Cambridge: | ete; Bigelow § Co. | 1876. | 4to., pp. i-ix, 1-246, 1 col’d map, 12 pl., 13 U. explanatory, 2 wood-cuts in text. Mhese two publications were simultaneous, and only differed in the titles, Unfor- tunately both are of greater rarity than the reprint referred to above. 088 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. he beholds the prodigious roads they have made from all quarters, as if leading to some populous city; the vast space of land around these springs desolated as if by a ravaging enemy, and hills reduced to plains; for the land near these springs is chiefly hilly. * * * I have heard a hunter assert he saw above one thousand buffaloes at the Blue Licks at once; so numerous were they before the first settlers had wantonly sported away their lives.” Col. Daniel Boone declared of the Red River region in Kentucky, ‘“‘The buffaloes were more frequent than I have seen cattle in the settlements, browzing on the leaves of the cane, or cropping the herbage of those extensive plains, fearless be- cause ignorant of the violence of man. Sometimes we saw hundreds in a drove, and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing.” According to Ramsey, where Nashville now stands, in 1770 there were ‘‘immense numbers of buffalo and other wild game. Thecountry was crowded with them. Their bellowings sounded from the hills and forest.” Daniel Boone found vast herds of buffalo grazing in the val- leys of East Tennessee, between the spurs of the Cumberland mount- ails. Marquette declared that the prairies along the Illinois River were “ govered with buffaloes.” Father Hennepin, in writing of northern Illinois, between Chicago and the Illinois River, asserted that ‘“ there must be an innumerable quantity of wild bulls in that country, since the earth is covered with their horns. * * * They follow one an- other, so that you may see a drove of them for above a league together. * #* * Their ways areas beaten as our great roads, and no herb grows therein.” Judged by ordinary standards of comparison, the early pioneers of the last century thought buffalo were abundant in the localities men- tioned above. But the herds which lived east of the Mississippi were comparatively only mere stragglers from the innumerable mass which — covered the great western pasture region from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Rio Grande to Great Slave Lake., The town of Kearney, in south central Nebraska, may fairly be considered the geographical center of distribution of the species, as it originally existed, but ever since 1800, and until a few years ago, the center of population has been in the Black Hills of southwestern Dakota. Between the Rocky Mountains and the States lying along the Missis- sippi River on the west, from Minnesota to Louisiana, the whole country was ove vast buffalo range, inhabited by millions of buffaloes. One could fill a volume with the records of plainsmen and pioneers who penetrated or crossed that vast region between 1800 and 1870, and were in turn surprised, astounded, and frequently dismayed by the tens of thousands of buffaloes they observed, avoided, or escaped from. They lived and moved as no other quadrupeds, ever have, in great mul- titudes, like grand armies in review, covering scores of square miles at once, They were so numerous they frequently stopped boats in the © THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 389 rivers, threatened to overwhelm travelers on the plains, and in later years derailed locomotives and cars, until railway engineers learned by experience the wisdom of stopping their trains whenever there were buffaloes crossing the track. On this feature of the buffalo’s life history a few detailed observations may be of value. Near the mouth of the White River, in southwestern Dakota, Lewis and Clark saw (in 1806) a herd of buffalo which caused them to make the following record in their journal: “These last animals [buffaloes] are now so numerous that from an eminence we discovered more than we had ever seen before at one time; and if it be not impossible to calculate the moving multitude, which darkened the whole plains, we are convinced that twenty thou- sand would be no exaggerated number.” When near the mouth of the Yellowstone, on their way down the Missouri, a previous record had been made of a meeting with other herds: “The buffalo now appear in vast numbers. awit. SW, OO, MI sy jae \ : x Fee oe Seah es SO WA coe ; CON Sys Wie Wy 5 {abies ia Oe were AO une Re ay SSL, ‘S < Tpke Se |= 5 = UUs Sane 7 5 “ Mee aw Fic. 1. Five MINUTES? Work. Photographed by L. A. Huffman. = ~~ = Zs ce So IES loeb ys re NA RA eS 8 ° wile ) = ams Fig. 2. SCENE ON THE NORTHERN BUFFALO RANGE. Photographed by L. A. Huffman. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 445 to 90 cents, and bull robes $1.15. On the northern range, from 1881 to 1883, the prices paid were much higher, ranging from $2.50-to $4. A few hundred dressed robes still-remain in the hands of some of the largest fur dealers in New York, Chicago, and Montreal, which can be purchased at prices much lower than one would expect, considering the circumstances. In 1888, good robes, Indian tanned, were offered in New York at prices ranging from $15 to $30, according to size and qual- ity, but in Montreal no first-class robes were obtainable at less than $40. Hides.—Next in importance to robes was the class of skins known commercially as hides. Under this head were classed all skins which for any reason did not possess the pelage necessary to a robe, and were therefore fit only for conversion into leather. Of these, the greater por- tion consisted of the skins of old bulls on which the hair was of poor quality and the skin itself too thick and heavy to ever allow of its being made into a soft, pliable, and light-weight robe. The remaining por- tion of the hides marketed were from buffaloes killed in spring and sum- wer, when the body and hind-quarters were almost naked. Apparentiy the quantity of summer-killed hides marketed was not very great, for it was only the meanest and most unprincipled ones of the grand army of buffalo-killers who were mean enough to kill buffaloes in summer simply for their hides. It is said that at one time summer-killing was practiced on the southern range to an extent that became a cause for alarm to the great bedy of more respectable hunters, and the practice was frowned upon so severely that the maetelies who eng3ged init found it wise to abandon it. Bones.—Next in importance to robes and hides was the bone product, the utilization of which was rendered possible by the rigorous climate of the buffalo plains. Under the influence of the wind and sun and the extremes of heat and cold, the flesh remaining upon a carcass dried up, disintegrated, and fell to dust, leaving the bones of almost the entire skeleton as clean and bare as if they had been stripped of flesh by some powerful chemical process. Very naturally, no sooner did the live buffaloes begin to grow scarce than the miles of bleaching bones suggested the idea of finding a use for them. A market was readily found for them in the East, and the prices paid per ton were sufficient to make the business of bone-gathering quite remunerative. The bulk of the bone product was converted into phosphate for fertilizing pur- poses, but much of it was turned into carbon for use in the refining of sugar. The gathering of bones became a common industry as early as 1872, during which year 1,135,300 pounds were shipped over the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad. In the year following the same road shipped 2,743,100 pounds, and in 1874 it handled 6,914,950 pounds more. This trade continued from that time on until the plains have been gleaned so far back from the railway lines that it is no longer profitable 446 ‘REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. to seek them. For that matter, however, it is said that south of the Union Pacific nothing worth the seeking now remains. The building of the Northern Pacific Railway made possible the ship- ment of immense quantities of dry bones. Even as late as 1886 over- land travelers saw at many of the stations between Jamestown, Da- kota, and Billings, Montana, immense heaps of bones lying alongside the rec awaiting shipment. In 1885 a single firm shipped over 200 tons of bones from Miles City. The valley of the Missonri River was gleaned by teamsters who gath- ered bones from as far back as 100 miles and hauled them to the river for shipment on the steamers. An operator who had eight wagons in the business informed me that in order to ship bones on the river steamers it was necessary to crush them, and that for crushed bones, shipped in bags, a Michigan fertilizer company paid $18 per ton. Uncrushed bones, shipped by the railway, sold for $12 per ton. It is impossible to ascertain the total amount or value of the bone product, but it is certain that it amounted to many thousand tons, and in value must have amounted to some hundreds of thousands of dollars. But for the great number of railroads, river steamers, and sea-going vessels (from Texas ports) engaged in carrying this product, it would have cut an important figure in the commerce of the country, but owing to the many interests between which it was divided it attracted little attention. Meat.—The amount of fresh buffalo meat cured and marketed was really very insignificant. So long as it was to be had at all it was so very abundant that it was worth only from 2 to 3 cents per pound in the market, and many reasons combined to render the trade in fresh buffalo meat anything but profitable. Probably not more than one one-thousandth of the buffalo meat that might have been saved and utilized was saved. The buffalo carcasses that were wasted on the great plains every year during the two great periods of slaughter (of the northern and southern herds) would probably have fed te satiety during the entire time more than a million persons. As to the quality of buffalo meat, it may be stated in general terms that it differs in no way whatever from domestic beef of the same age produced by the same kind of grass. Perhaps there is no finer grazing ~ ground in the world than Montana, and the beef it produces is certainly entitled to rank with the best. There are many persons who claim to recognize a difference between the taste of buffalo meat and domestic beef; but for my part I do not believe any difference really exists, unless itis that the flesh of the buffalo is a little sweeter and more juicy. As for myself, I feel certain I could not tell the difference between the flesh of a three-year old buffalo and that of a domestic beef of the same age, nor do I believe any one else could, even on a wager. Having once seen a butcher eat an elephant steak in the belief that it was beef from his own shop, and another butcher eat loggerhead turtle steak for THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 447 beef, I have become somewhat skeptical in regard to the intelligence of the human palate. As a matter of experiment, during our hunt for buffalo we had buffalo meat of all ages, from one year up to eleven, cooked in as many differ- ent ways as our culinary department could turn out. We had it broiled, fried with batter, roasted, boiled, and stewed. The last method, when employed upon slices of meat that had been hacked from a frozen hind- quarter, produced results that were undeniably tough and not partic- ularly good. But it was an unfair way to cook any kind of meat, and may be guarantied to spoil the finest beef in the world. Hump meat from a cow buffalo not too old, cut in slices and fried in batter, a la cow-boy, is delicious—a dish fit for the gods. We had tongues in plenty, but the ordinary meat was so good they were not half appreciated. Of course the tenderloin was above criticism, and even the round steaks, so lightly esteemed by the epicure, were tender and juicy to a most satisfactory degree. It has been said that the meat of the buffalo has a coarser texture or “ grain” than domestic beef. Although I expected to find such to be the case, I found no perceptible difference whatever, nor do I be- lieve that any exists. As to the distribution of fat I am unable to say, for the reason that our buffaloes were not fat. It is highly probable that the distribution of fat through the meat, so characteristic of the shorthorn breeds, and which has been brought about only by careful breeding, is not found in either the beef of the buffalo or common range cattle. In this respect, shorthorn beef no doubt surpasses both the others mentioned, but in all other points, texture, flavor, and general tenderness, [ am very sure it does not. It is a great mistake for a traveler to kill a patriarchal old bull buf- falo, and after attempting to masticate a small portion of him to rise up and declare that buffalo meat is coarse, tough, and dry. A domestic bull of the same age would taste as tough. It is probably only those who have had the bad taste to eat bull-beef who have ever found occa- sion to asperse the reputation of Bison americanus as a beef animal. Until people got tired of them, buffalo tongues were in considerable demand, and hundreds, if not even thousands, of barrels of them were shipped east from the buffalo country. Pemmican.—Out of the enormous waste of good buffalo flesh one prod- uct stands forth as a redeeming feature—pemmican. Although made almost exclusively by the half-breeds.and Indians of the Northwest, itcon- stituted a regular article of commerce of great value to overland travel- ers, and was much sought for as long as it was produced. Its peculiar ‘staying powers,” due to the process of its manufacture, which yielded a most nourishing food in a highly condensed form, made it of inesti- mable value to the overland traveler who must travel light or not at all. A handful of pemmican was sufficient food to constitute a meal when provisions were at all scarce. The price of pemmican in Winnipeg was 448 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. once as low as 2d. per pound, but in 1883 a very small quantity which was brought in sold at 16 cents per pound. This was probably the last buffalo pemmican made. H.M. Robinson states that in 1878 pemmican was worth 1s. 3d. per pound. The manufacture of pemmican, as performed by the Red River half.” breeds, was thus described by the Rev. Mr. Belcourt, a Catholic priest, who once accompanied one of the great buffalo-hunting expeditions: * ‘“‘Other portions which are destined to be made into pimikehigan, or pemmican, are exposed to an ardent heat, and thus become brittle and easily reducible to small particles by the use of a flail, the buffalo-hide answering the purpose of a threshing-floor. The fat or tallow, being cut up and melted in large kettles ef sheet-iron, is poured upon this pounded meat, and the whole mass is worked together with shovels until it is well amalgamated, when it is pressed, while still warm, into bags made of buffalo skin, which are strongly sewed up, and the mixt- ure gradually cools and becomes almost as hard as arock. If the fat used in this process is that taken from the parts containing the udder, the meat is called fine pemmican. In some eases, dried fruits, such as the prairie pear and cherry, are intermixed, which forms what is called seed pemmican. The lovers of good eating judge the first described to be very palatable; the second, better; the third, excellent. A taurean of pemmi- can weighs from 100 to 110 pounds. Some idea may be formed of the immense destruction of buffalo by these people when it is stated that a whole cow yields one-half a bag of pemmican and three fourths of a bundle of dried meat; so that the most economical calculate that from eight to ten cows are required for the load of a single vehicle.” It is quite evident from the testimony of disinterested travelers that ordinary pemmican was not very palatable to one unaccustomed to it as a regular article of food. To the natives, however, especially the Ca- nadian voyageur, it formed one of the most valuable food -products of the country, and it is said that the demand for it was generally greater than the supply. Dried, or “jerked” meat.—The most popular and universal method of curing buffalo meat was to cut it into thin flakes, an inch or Jess in thickness and of indefinite length, and without salting it in the least to hang it over poles, ropes, wicker-frames, or even clumps of standing sage brush, and let it dry in the sun. This process yielded the famous “jerked” meat so common throughout the West in the early days, from the Rio Grande to the Saskatchewan. Father Belcourt thus described the curing process as it was practiced by the half-breeds and Indians of the Northwest: “The meat, when taken to camp, is cut by the women into long strips about a quarter of an inch thick, which are hung upon the lattice-work prepared for that purpose to dry. This lattice-work is formed of small pieces of wood, placed horizontally, transversely, and equidistant from * Schooleraft’s History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, Iv, p. 107, a? Oe rs THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 449 each other, not unlike an immense gridiron, and is supported. by wooden uprights (trepieds). In a few days the meat is thoroughly desiccated, when itis bent into proper lengths and tied into bundles of 60 or 70 pounds weight. This is called dried meat (viande seche). To make the hide into parchment (so called) it is stretched on a frame, and then scraped on the inside with a piece of sharpened bone and on the out- side with a small but sharp-curved iron, proper to remove the hair. This is considered, likewise, the appropriate labor of women. The men break the bones, which are boiled in water to extract the marrow to be used for frying and other culinary purposes. The oil is then poured into the bladder of the animal, which contains, when filled, about 12 pounds, being the yield of the marrow-bones of two buffaloes.” In the Northwest Territories dried meat, which formerly sold at 2d. per pound, was worth in 1878 10d. per pound. Although I have myself prepared quite a quantity of jerked buffalo meat, I never learned to like it. Owing tothe absence of salt in its curing, the dried meat when pounded and made into a stew has a “ far away” taste which continually reminds one of hoofs and horns. For all that, and despite its resemblance in flavor to Liebig’s Extract of Beef, it is quite good, and better to the taste than ordinary pemmican. The Indians formerly cured great quantities of buffalo meat in this way—in Summer, of course, for use in winter—but the advent of that popular institution called ‘Government beef” long ago rendered it un- necessary for the noble rcd man to exert his squaw in that once honorable field of labor. During the existence of the buffalo herds a few thrifty and enter- prising white men made a business of killing buffaloes in summer and drying the meat in bulk, in the same manner which to-day produces our popular “dried beef” Mr. Allen states that “a single hunter at Hays City shipped annually for some years several hundred barrels thus prepared, which the consumers probably bought fer ordinary beef.” Uses of bison’s hair.—Numerous attempts have been made to utilize the woolly hair of the bison in the manufacture of textile fabrics. As early as 1729 Col. William Byrd records the fact that garments were made of this material, as follows: “The Hair growing upon his Head and Neck is long and Shagged, and so Soft that it will spin into Thread not unlike Mohair, and might be wove into a sort of Camlet. Some People have Stockings knit of it, that would have served an Israelite during his forty Years march thro’ the Wilderness.” * In 1637 Thomas Morton published, in his “New English Canaan,” p. 98,t the following reference to the Indians who live on the south- ern shore of Lake Erocoise, supposed to be Lake Ontario: “These Beasts [buffaloes, undoubtedly] are of the bignesse of a ——A * Westover MSS., 1, p. 172. : t Quoted by Professor Allen, ‘American Bisons,” p. 107. H. Mis, 600, pt. 2——29 A450 : REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. \ Cowe, their flesh being very good foode, their hides good lether, their fleeces very usefull, being a kind of wolle, as fine as the wolle of the Beaver, and the Salvages doe make garments thereof.” Professor Allen quotes a number of authorities who have recorded statements in regard to the manufacture of belts, garters, scarfs, sacks, etc., from buffalo wool by various tribes of Indians.* He also calls at- tention to the only determined efforts ever made by white men on a lib- eral scale for the utilization of buffalo “‘ wool” and its manufacture into cloth, an account of which appears in Ross’s “‘ Red River Settlement,” pp. 69-72. In 1821 some of the more enterprising of the Red River (British) colonists conceived the idea of making fortunes out of the manufacture of woolen goods from the fleece of the buffalo, and for that purpose organized the Buffalo Wool Company, the principal object of which was declared to be “ to provide a substitute for wool, which sub- stitute was to be the wool of the wild buffalo, which was to be collected in the plains and manufactured both for the use of the colonists and for export.” A large number of skilled workmen of various kinds were procured from England, and also a plant of machinery and materials. When too late, it was found that the supply of buffalo wool obtainable was utterly insufficient, the raw wool costing the company 1s. 6d. per pound, and cloth which il cost the company £2 10s. per yard to produce was worth only 4s. 6d. per yard in England. The historian states that universal drunkenness on the part of all concerned aided very mate- rially in bringing about the total failure of the enterprise in a very short time. ; “While it is possible to manrfacture the fine, woolly fur of the bison into cloth or knitted garments, provided a sufficient supply of the raw material could be obtained (which is and always has been impossible), nothing could be more visionary than an attempt to thus produce sal- able garments at a profit. Articles of wearing apparel made of buffalo’s hair are interesting as curiosities, for their rarity makes them so, but that is the only end they can ever serve so long as there is a sheep living. In the National Museum, in the section of animal products, there is displayed a pair of stockings made in Canada from the finest buffalo wool, from the body of the animal. They are thick, heavy, and full of the coarse, straight hairs, which it seems can never be entirely sepa- rated from the fine wool. In general texture they are as coarse as the coarsest sheep’s wool would produce. With the above are also displayed a rope-like lariat, made by the Comanche Indians, and a smaller braided lasso, seemingly a sample more than a full-grown lariat, made by the Otoe Indians of Nebraska. Both of the above are made of the long, dark-brown hair of the head and shoulders, and in spite of the fact that they have been twisted as * The American Bison, pelor THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. Ad1 hard as possible, the ends of the hairs protude so persistently that the surface of each rope is extremely hairy. _ Buffalo chips—Last, but by no means least in value to the traveler on the treeless plains, are the droppings of the buffalo, universally known as “buffalo chips.” When over one year old and thoroughly dry, this material makes excellent fuel. Usually it occurs only where fire- wood is unobtainable, and thoasands of frontiersmen have a million times found it of priceless value. When dry, it catches easily, burns readily, and makes a hot fire with but very little smoke, although it is rapidly consumed. Although not as good for a fire as even the poorest timber it is infinitely better than sage-brush, which, in the absence of chips, is often the traveler’s last resort. It usually happens that chips are most abundant in the sheltered creek-bottoms and near the water-holes, the very situations which trav- elers naturally select for their camps. In these spots the herds have gathered either for shelter in winter or for water in summer, and re- mained in a body for some hours. And now, when the cow-boy on the round-up, the surveyor, or hunter, who must camp out,, pitches his tent in the grassy coulée or narrow creek-bottom, his first care is to start out with his largest gunning-bag to ‘‘rustle some buffalo chips” for a camp- fire. He, at least, when he returns well laden with the spoil of his hum- ble chase, still has good reason to remember the departed herd with feelings of gratitude. Thus even the last remains of this most useful animal are utilized by man in providing for his own imperative wants. IX. THE PRESENT VALUE OF THE BISON TO CATTLE-GROWERS. The bison in captivity and domestication.—Almost from time imme- morial it has been known that the American bison takes kindly to cap-. tivity, herds contentedly with domestic cattle, and crosses with them with the utmost readiness. It was formerly believed, and indeed the tradition prevails even now to quite an extent, that on account of the hump on the shoulders a domestic cow could not give birth to a half- breed calf. This belief is entirely ous foundation, and is due to theories rather than facts. Numerous experiments in buffalo breeding have been made, and the subject is far from being a new one. As early as 1701 the Hugenot settlers at Manikintown, on the James River, a few miles above Rich- mond, began to domesticate buffaloes. It is also a matter of historical record that in 1786, or thereabouts, buffaloes were domesticated and bred in captivity in Virginia, and Albert Gallatin states that in some of the northwestern counties the mixed breed was quite common. In 1815 a series of elaborate and valuable experiments in cross-breeding the buffalo and domestic cattle was begun by Mr. Robert Wickliffe, of Lexington, Ky. " and contiiiued by him for upwards of thir ty years.* * For a full account of Mr. Wickliffe’s experiments, written 6 himself, see Audu- bon and Bachman’s ‘‘ Quadrupeds of North America,” vol, 11, pp. 52-04, 452 _ REPORT-OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Quite recently the buffalo-breeding operations of Mr. 8. L. Bedson, of Stony Mountain, Manitoba, and Mr. C. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., have attracted much attention, particularly for the reason that the efforts of both these gentlemen have been directed toward the practical improvement of the present breeds of range cattle. For this reason the importance of the work in which they are engaged can hardly be over- estimated, and the results already obtained by Mr. Bedson, whose ex- periments antedate those of Mr. Jones by several years, are of the greatest interest to western cattle-growers. Indeed, unless the stock of pure-blood buffaloes now remaining proves insufficient for the pur- pose, I fully believe that we will gradually see a great change wrought in the character of western cattle by the introduction of a strain of buffalo blood. The experiments which have been made thus far prove conclusively that— (1) The male bison crosses readily with the opposite sex of domestic cattle, but a buffalo cow has never been known to produce a half-breed ealf. (2) The domestic cow produces a half-breed calf successfully. (3) The progeny of the two species is fertile to any extent, yielding half-breeds, quarter, three-quarter breeds, and so on. (4) The bison breeds in captivity with perfect regularity and success. Need of an improvement in range catile—Hiver since the earliest days of cattle-ranching in the West, stockmen have had it in their power to produce a breed which would equal in beef-bearing qualities the best breeds to be found upon the plains, and be so much better calculated to survive the hardships of winter, that their annual losses would have been very greatly reduced. Whenever there is an unusually severe winter, such as comes about three times in every decade, if not even oftener, range cattle perish by thousands. It_is an absolute impossi- bility for every ranchman who owns several thousand, or even several hundred, head of cattle to provide hay for them, even during the severest portion of the winter season, and consequently the cattle must depend wholly upon their own resources. When the winter is reasonably mild, and the suows never very deep, nor lying too long at a time on the ground, the cattle live through the winter with very satisfactory suc- cess. Thanks to the wind, it usually happens that the falling snow is blown off the ridges as fast as it falls, leaving the grass sufficiently un- covered for the cattle to feed upon it. If the snow-fall is universal, but not more than a few inches in depth, the cattle paw through it here and there, and eke out a subsistence, on quarter rations it may be, until a friendly chinook wind sets in from the southwest and dissolves the snow as if by magic in a few hours’ time. But when a deep snow comes, and lies on the ground persistently, week in and week out, when the warmth of the sun softens and moist- eus its surface sufficiently for a returning cold wave to freeze it into a THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMBRICAN BISON. 45S hard crust, forming a universal wall of ice between the luckless steer and his only food, the cattle starve and freeze in immense numbers. Being totally unfitted by nature to survive such unnatural conditions, it is not strange that they succumb. 5 Under present conditions the stockman simply stakes his cattle against the winter elements and takes his chances on the results, which are gov- erned by circumstances wholly beyond his control. The losses of the fearful winter of 188687 will probably never be forgotten by the cattle- men of the great Western grazing ground. In many portions of Mon- tana and Wyoming the cattlemen admitted a loss of 50 per cent. of their cattle, and in some localities the loss was still greater. The same conditions are liable to prevail next winter, or any succeeding winter, and we may yet see more than half the range cattle in the West perish in a single month. Yet all this time the cattlemen have had it in their power, by the easiest and simplest method in the world, to introduce a strain of hardy native blood in their stock which would have made it capable of successfully resisting a much greater degree of hunger and cold. itis really surprising that the desirability of cross-breeding the buffalo and domestic cattle should for so long a time have been either overlooked or disregarded. While cattle-growers generally have shown the great- est enterprise in producing special breeds for milk, for butter, or for beef, cattle with short horns and cattle with no horns at all, only two or three men have had the enterprise to try to produce a breed par- - ticularly hardy and capable. A buffalo can weather storms and outlive hunger and cold which would kill any domestic steer that ever lived. When nature placed him on the treeless and blizzard-swept plains, she left him well equip- ped to survive whatever natural conditions he would have to encounter. The most striking feature of his entire tout ensemble is his magnificent suit of hair and fur combined, the warmest covering possessed by any quadruped save the musk-ox. The head, neck, and fore quarters are clothed with hide and hair so thick as to be almost, if not entirely, im- pervious to cold. The hair on the body and hind quarters is long, fine, very thick, and of that peculiar woolly quality which constitutes the best possible protection against cold. Let him who doubts the warmth of a good buffalo robe tsy to weather a blizzard with something else, and then try the robe. The very form of the buffalo—short, thick legs, and head hung very near the ground—suggests most forcibly a special fitness to wrestle with mother earth for a living, snow or no snow. A buffalo will flounder for days through deep snow-drifts without a mor- sel of food, and survive where the best range steer would literally freeze on foot, bolt upright, as hundreds did in the winter of 1886~87. While range cattle turn tail to a blizzard and drift helplessly, the buffalo faces it every time, and remains master of the situation. It has for years been a surprise to me that Western stockmen have 454 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, i897. not seized upon the opportunity presented by the presence of the buf- falo to improve the character of their cattle. Now that there are no longer any buffalo calves to be had on the plains for the trouble of catching them, and the few domesticated buffaloes that remain are worth fabulous prices, we may expect to see a great deal of interest manifested in this subject, and some costly efforts made to atone for previous lack of forethought. — The character of the buffalo—domestic hybrid.—The subjoined illus- - tration from a photograph kindly furnished by Mr. C. J. Jones, repre- sents a ten months’ old half-breed calf (male), the product of a buffalo bull and domestic cow. The prepotency of the sire is apparent at. the first glance, and to so marked an extent that the illustration would pass muster anywhere as having been drawn from a full-blood buffalo. The head, neck, and hump, and the long woolly hair that covers them, proclaim the buffalo in every line. Excepting that the hair on the shoulders (below the hump) is of the same length as that on the body aud hind quarters, there is, so far as one can judge from an excellent photograph, no difference whatever observable between this lusty young half-breed and a full-blood buffalo calf of the same age and sex. Mr. Jones describes the color of this animal as “‘iron-gray,” and remarks: ‘“You will see how even the fur is, being as long on the hind parts as on the shoulders and neck, very much unlike the buffalo, which is so shaggy about the shoulders and so thin farther back.” Upon this point it is to be remarked ihat the hair on the body of a yearling or two-year-old buffalo is always very much longer in proportion to tle hair on the forward parts than it is later in life, and while the shoulder hair is always decidedly longer than that back of it, during the first two years the contrast is by no means so very great. A reference to the memoranda of hair measurements already given Bes afford precise data on this point. In regard to half-breed calves, Mr. Bedson states in a private letter that “the hump does not appear until several months after birth.” Altogether, the male calf described above so strongly resembles a pure-blood buffalo as to be generally mistaken for one; the form of the adult half-blood cow promptly proclaims her origin. The accompanying plate, also from a photograph supplied by Mr. Jones, accurately repre- sents a half-breed cow, six years old, weighing about 1,800 pounds. Her body is very noticeably larger in proportion than that of the cow buffalo, her pelvis much heavier, broader, and more cow-like, therein being a decided improvement upon the small and weak hind quarters of the wild species. The hump is quite noticeable, but is not nearly so high as in the pure buffalo cow. The hair on the fore quarters, neck, and head is decidedly shorter, especially on the head; the frontlet and chin beard being conspicuously lacking. The tufts of long, coarse, black hair which clothe the fore-arm of the buffalo cow are almost ab- sent, but apparently the hair on the body and hind quarters has lost Report of National Museum, 1887.—Hornaday. PLATE Xi. HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DoMESTIC) CALF.—HERD OF C. J. JONES, GARDEN CITY, KANSAS. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson. fe oe ee ne AD he 7 yi : a * Oh ie a 0 yt : ¥ : } ~ y a iy ir her ’ a0 , i ae + a> y fae ‘in S80 p : THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 455 but little, if any, of its length, density, and fine, furry quality. The horns are decidedly cow-like in their size, length, and curvature. Regarding the general character of the half-breed buftalo, and his herd in general, Mr. Bedson writes me as follows, in a@ letter dated September 12, 1888: “The nucleus of my herd consisted of a young buffalo bull and four heifer calves, which I purchased in 1877, and the inerease from these few has been most rapid, as will be shown by a tabular statement far- ther on. “Suecess with the breeding of the pure buffalo was followed by ex- periments in crossing with the domestic animal. This crossing has generally been between a buffalo bull and an ordinary cow, and with the most encouraging results, since it had been contended by many that although the cow might breed a calf from the buffalo, yet it weuld be at the expense of her life, owing to the hump on a buffalo’s shoulder; but this hump does not appear until several months after birth. This has been proved a fallacy respecting this herd at least, for calving has been ‘attended with no greater percentage of losses than would be experienced in ranching with the ordinary cattle. Buffalo cows and crosses have dropped calves at as low a temperature as 20° below zero, and the calves were sturdy and healthy. “The half-breed resulting from the cross as above mentioned has been again crossed with the thoroughbred buffalo bull, producing a three quarter breed animal closely resembling the buffalo, the head and robe being quite equal, if not superior. The half-breeds are very prolific. The cows drop a calf annually. They are also very hardy indeed, as _ they take the instinct of the buffalo during the blizzards and storms, * and do not drift like native cattle. They remain upon the open prairie during our severest winters, while the thermometer ranges from 30 to 40 degrees below zero, with little or no food except what they rustled on the prairie, and no shelter at all. In nearly all the ranching parts of North America foddering and housing of cattle is imperative in a more or less degree,* creating an item of expense felt by all interested in cattle- raising; but the buffalo [half]breed retains all its native hardihood, needs no housing, forages in the deepest snows for its own food,.yet be- comes easily domesticated, and consequently needs but little herding. Therefore the progeny of the buffalo is easily reared, cheaply fed, and requires no housing in winter; three very essential points in stock- raising. ‘‘ They are always in good order, and I consider the meat of the half- breed much preferable to domestic animals, while the robe is very fine indeed, the fur being evened-up on the hind parts, the same as on the shoulders. During the history of the herd, accident and other causes have compelled the slaughtering of one or two, and in these instances *On nearly all the great cattle ranches of the United States it is absolutely impos- sible, and is not even attempted.—W. T. H. A456 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. the carcasses have sold for 18 cents per pound; the hides in their dressed state for $50 to $75 each. A half-breed buffalo ox (four years old, crossed with buffalo bull and Durham cow) was killed last winter, and weighed 1,280 pounds dressed beef. One pure buffalo bull now in my herd weighs fully 2,000 pounds, and a [half]breed bull 1,700 to 1,800 pounds. “The three-quarter breed is an enormous animal in size, and has an extra good robe, which will readily bring $40 to $50 in any market where there is a demand for robes. They are also very prolific, and I consider them the coming cattle for our range cattle for the Northern climate, while the half and quarter breeds will be the animals for the more Southern district. The half and three-quarter breed cows, when really matured, will weigh from 1,400 to 1,800 pounds. : ““] have never crossed them except with a common grade of cows, while I believe a cross with the Galloways would produce the handsom- est robe ever handled, and make the best range cattle in the world. I have not had time to give my attention to my herd, more than to let them range on the prairies at will. By proper care great results can be accomplished.” Hon. C. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., whose years of experience with the buffalo, both as old-time hunter, catcher, and breeder, has earned for him the sobriquet of ‘‘ Buffalo Jones,” five years ago became deeply interested in the question of improving range cattle by crossing with the buffalo. With characteristic Western energy he has puxsued the subject from that time until the present, having made five trips to the range of the only buffaloes remaining from the great southern herd, and captured sixty-eight buffalo calves and eleven adult cows with which to start a herd. In a short article published in the Farmers’ Review (Chicago, August 22, 1888), Mr. Jones gives his views on the value of the buffalo in cross-breeding as foliows: ‘In all my meanderings I have not found a pkace but I could count more carcasses [of cattle] than living animals. Who has not ridden over some of the Western railways and counted dead cattle by the thou- sands? The great question is, Where can we get arace of cattle that will stand blizzards, and endure the drifting snow, and will not be driven with the storms against the railroad fences and pasture fences, there to perish for the want of nerve to face the northern winds for a few miles, to where the winter grasses could be hadin abundance? JRealizing these facts, both from observation and pocket, we pulled on our‘ thinking cap,’ and these points came vividly to our mind: ‘©(1) We want an animal that-is hardy. ‘¢(2) We want an animal with nerve and endurance. “©(3) We want an animal that faces the blizzards and endures the storms. . “©(4) We want an animal that will rustle the prairies, and not yield to discouragement. PLATE XII. Report of National Museum, 1887.—Hornaday. tuosdwoy) 'q yseuiy fq umeiq ‘SVSNYM ‘ALIO Naguv5 ‘SANOP "P “OD 4O GYaH—"MOO (OlLSAWOG-O1V44NG) G3SYS-41VH By J J 15) NATIT NAY Wife. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 45% “(5) We want an animal that will fill the above bill, and make good beef and plenty of it. “All the points above could easily be found in the buffalo, excepting the fifth, and even that is more than filled as to the quality, but not in quantity. Where is the ‘old timer’ who has not had a cut from the hump or sirloin of a fat buffale cow in the fall of the year, and where is the one who will not make affidavit that it was the best meat he ever ate? Yes, the fat was very rich, equal to the marrow from the bone of domestic cattle. * * * “The great question remained unsolved as to the quantity of meat from the buffalo. I finally heard of a half-breed buffalo in Colorado, and immediately set out to find it. I traveled at least 1,000 miles to find it, and found a five-year-old half-breed cow that had been bred to domestic bulls and had brought forth two calves—a yearling and a sucking calf that gave promise of great results. “The cow had never been fed, but depended altogether on the range, and when I saw her, in the fall of 1883, I estimated her weight at 1,800 pounds. She was a brindle, and had a handsome robe even in Septem- ber; she had as good hind quarters as ordinary cattle; her fore parts were heavy and resembled the buffalo, yet not near so much of the hump. The offspring showed but very little of the buffalo, yet they possessed a woolly coat, which showed clearly that they were more than domestic Cathie. = * * i “What we can rely on by having one-fourth, one-half, and three- fourths breeds might be analyzed as follows: “ We can depend upon a race of cattle unequaled in the world for hardiness and durability ; a good meat-bearing animal; the best and only fur-bearing animal of the bovine race; the animal always found in a storm where it is overtaken by it; araceof cattle so clannish as never to separate and go astray; the animal that can always have free range, as they exist where no other animal can live; the animal that can water every third day and keep fat, ranging from 20 to 30 miles from water; in fact, they are the perfect animal for the plains of North America. One-fourth breeds for Texas, one-half breeds for Colorado and Kausas, and three-fourths breeds for more northern country, is what will soon be sought after more than any living animal. Then we will never be confronted with dead carcarsses from starvation, exhaustion, and lack of nerve, as in years gone by.” The bison as a beast of burden.—On account of the abundance of horses for all purposes throughout the entire country, oxen are so seldem used they almost constitute a curiosity. There never has existed a necessity to break buffaloes .to the yoke and work them like domestic oxen, and so few experiments have been made in this direction that reliable data on this subject is almost wholly wanting. While at Miles City, Mont., I heard of a German “ granger” who worked a small farm in the Tongue River Valley, and who once had a pair of cow buffaloes trained 458 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. to the yoke. It was said that they were strong, rapid walkers, and capable of performing as much work as the best domestic oxen, but they were at times so uncontrollably headstrong and obstinate as to greatly detract from their usefulness. The particular event of their career on which their historian dwelt with special interest occurred when their owner was hauling a load of potatoes to town with them. In the course of the long drive the buffaloes grew very thirsty, and upon coming within sight of the water in the river they started for it in astraight course. The shouts and blows of the driver only served to hasten their speed, and presently, when they reached the edge of the high bank, they plunged down it without the slightest hesitation, wagon, potatoes, and all, to the loss of everything except themselves and the drink they went after ! ! Mr. Robert Wickliffe states that trained buffaloes make satisfactory oxen. ‘J have broken them to the yoke, and found them capable of making excellent oxen; and for drawing wagons, carts, or other heavily - laden vehicles on long journeys they would, I think, be greatly prefer- able to the common ox.” It seems probable that, in the absence of horses, the buffalo would make a much more speedy and enduring draught animal than the domes- tic ox, although itis to be doubted whether he would be asstrong. His weaker pelvis and hind quarters would surely count against him under certain circumstances, but for some purposes his superior speed and en- durance would more than counterbalance that defect. BISON HERDS AND INDIVIDUALS IN CAPTIVITY AND DOMESTICATION, . JANUARY 1, 1889. Herd of Mr. 8. L. Bedson, Stony Mountain, Manitoba.—In 1877 Mr. Bedson purchased 5 buffalo calves, 1 bull, and 4 heifers, for which he paid $1,000. In 1888 his herd consisted of 23 full-blood bulls, 35 cows, 3 half-breed cows, 5 half-breed bulls, and 17 calves, mixed and pure ;* making a total of 83 head. These were all produced from the original 5, no purchuses having been made, nor any additions made in any other way. Besides the 83 head constituting the herd when it was sold, 5 were killed and 9 given away, which would otherwise make a total of 97 head produced since 1877. In November, 1888, this entire herd was purchased, for $50,000, by Mr. C. J. Jones, and added to the already large herd owned by that gentleman in Kansas. Herd of Mr. C. J. Jones, Garden City, Kans.—Mr. Jones’s original herd of 57 buffaloes constitute a living testimonial to his individual en- terprise, and to his courage, endurance, and skill in the chase. The majority of the individuals composing the herd he himself ran down, *In summing up the total number of buffaloes and mixed-breeds now alive in cap-. tivity, I have been obliged to strike an average on this lot of calves ‘mixed and pure,” and have counted twelve as being of pure breed and five mixed, which I have reason to believe is very near the truth. ————— PLATE XIll. Hornaday. Report of National Museum, 1887. *SVSNVY ¢ ALID. NaGduvs) ¢ Ssanor f ‘uosdwoy| “4 ysauiy Aq umeiq 9 40 GYusaH 5 ng (OlLsawoqg O1v44Ng) Gaayad-41VH DNNOA id) a eae . THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 459 lassoed, and tied with his own hands. For the last five years Mr. Jones has made an annual trip, in June, to the uninhabited ‘“‘ panhandle” of Texas, to capture calves out of the small herd of from one hundred to two hundred head which represented the last remnant of the great southern herd. Hach of these expeditions involved a very considerable outlay in money, an elaborate “ outfit” of men, horses, vehicles, camp equipage, and lastly, but most important of all, a herd of a dozen fresh milch cows to nourish the captured calves and keep them from dying of starvation and thirst. The region visited was fearfully barren, al- most without water, and to penetrate it was always attended by great hardship. The buffaloes were difficult to find, but the ground was good for running, being chiefly level plains, and the superior speed of the running horses always enabled the hunters to overtake a herd when- ever one was sighted, and to “cut out” and lasso two, three, or four of its calves. The degree of skill and daring displayed in these several expeditions are worthy of the highest admiration, and completely sur- pass anyt'ing I have ever seen or read of being accomplished in con- nection with hunting, or the capture of live game. The latest feat of Mr. Jones and his party comes the nearest to being incredible. During the month of May, 1888, they not only captured seven calves, but also eleven adult cows, of which some were lassoed in full career on the prai- rie, thrown, tied, and hobbled! The majority, however, were actually “rounded up,” herded, and held in control until a bunch of tame buf- - faloes was driven down to meet them, so that it would thus be possible to drive all together to a ranch. This brilliant feat can only be ap- ' preciated as it deserves by those who have lately hunted buffalo, and learned by dear experience the extent of their wariness, and the diffi- culties, to say nothing of the dangers, inseparably connected with their pursuit. The result of each of Mr. Jones’s five expeditions is as follows: In 1884 no calves found; 1885, 11 calves captured, 5 died, 6 survived; 1886, 14 calves captured, 7 died, 7 survived; 1887, 36 calves captured, 6 died, 30 survived; 1888, 7 calves captured, all survived; 1888, 11 old cows captured, all survived. Total, 79 captures, 18 losses, 57 survivors. The census of the herd is exactly as follows: Adult cows, 11; three- year olds, 7, of which 2 are males and 5 females; two-year olds, 4, of which all are males; yearling, 28, of which 15 are males and 13 females ; calves, 7, of which 3 are males and 4 females. Total herd, 57; 24 males and 33 females. To this; Mr. Jones’s original herd, must now be added the entire herd formerly owned by Mr. Bedson. Respecting his breeding operations Mr. Jones writes: “‘ My oldest {bull] buffaloes are now three years old, and I am breeding one hundred domestic cows to them this year. Am breeding the Galloway cows quite extensively; alsosome Shorthorns, Herefords,and Texas cows. [expect best results from the Galloways. If I can get the black luster of the o A460 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. latter and the fur of a buffalo, I will have a robe that will bring more money than we get for the average range steer.” In November, 1888, Mr. Jones purchased Mr. Bedson’s entire Heke and in the following month proceeded to ship a portion of it to Kansas City. Thirty-three head were separated from the remainder of the herd on the prairie near Stony Mountain, 12 miles from Winnipeg, and driven to the railroad. Several old bulls broke away en route and ran back to the herd, and when the remainder were finally corraled in the pens at the stock-yards “they began to fight among themselves, and some fierce encounters were waged between the old bulls. The younger cattle were raised on the horns of their seniors, thrown in the air, and otherwise gored.” While on the way to St. Paul three of the half-breed buffaloes were killed by their companions. On reaching Kansas City and unloading the two cars, 13 head broke away from the large force of men that attempted to manage them, stampeded through the city, and finally took refuge in the low-lands along the river. In due time, however, all were recaptured. Since the acquisition of this northern herd and the subsequent press comment that it has evoked, Mr. Jones has been almost overwhelmed with letters of inquiry in regard to the whole subject of butfalo breed- ing, and has found it necessary to print and distribute a circular giving answers to the many inquiries that have been made. Herd of Mr. Charles Allard, Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana.— This herd was visited in the autumn of 1888 by Mr. G. O. Shields, of Chicago, who reports that it consists of thirty-five head of pure-blood buffaloes, of which seven are calves of 1888, six are yearlings, and six are two-year olds. Of the adult animals, four cows and two bulls are each fourteen years old, “‘ and the beards of the bulls almost sweep the ground as they walk.” Herd of Hon. W. F. Cody (“Buffalo Bill”).—The celebrated “ Wild West Show” has, ever since its organization, numbered amongst its leading attractions a herd of live buffaloes of all ages. At present this herd contains eighteen head, of which fourteen were originally purchased of Mr. H. T. Groome, of Wichita, Kansas, and have made a journey to” London and back. As a proof of the indomitable persistence of the bison in breeding under most unfavorable circumstances, the fact that four of the members of this herd are calves which were born in 1888 in London, at the American Exposition, is of considerable interest. This herd is now (December, 1888) being wintered on General Beale’s farm, near the city of Washington. In 1886~87, while the Wild West Show was at Madison Square Garden, New York City, its entire herd of twenty buffaloes was carried off by pleuro-pneumonia. It is to be greatly feared that sooner or later in the course of its travels the present herd will also disappear, either through disease or accident. Herd of Mr. Charles Goodnight, Clarendon, Texas.——Mr. Goodnight writes that he has ‘“‘been breeding buffaloes in a small way for the past THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. ~— 461 ten years,” but without giving any particular attention to it. At pres- ent his herd consists of thirteen head, of which two are three-year-old bulls and four are calves. There are seven cows of all ages, one of which is a half-breed. Herd at the Zoological Society’s Gardens, Philadelphia, Arthur LE. Brown, superintendent.—This institution is the fortunate possessor of a small herd of ten buffaloes, of which four are males and six females. Two are calves of 1877. In 1886 the Gardens sold an adult bull and cow to Hon. W. F. Cody for $300. Herd at Bismarck Grove, Kansas, owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad Company.—A small herd of buffaloes has for several years past been kept at Bismarck Grove as an attraction to visitors. At present it contains ten head, one of which is a very large bull, another in a four-year-old bull, six are cows of various ages, and two are two- year olds. In 1885 a large bull belonging to this herd grew so vicious and dangerous that it was necessary to kill him. The following interesting account of this herd was published in the Kansas City Times of December 8, 1888: “Thirteen years ago Colonel Stanton purchased a buffalo bull calf . for $8 and two heifers for $25. The descendants of these three buffa- loes now found at Bismarck Grove, where all were. born, number in all ten. There were seventeen, but the rest have died, with the exception of one, which was given away. They are kept in an inclosure containing about 30 acres immediately adjoining the park, and there may be seen -at any time. ‘The sight is one well worth a trip and the slight expense that may attach to it, especially to one who has never seen the Ameri- can bison in his native state. ‘The present herd includes two fine bull calves dropped last spring, two heifers, five cows, and a bull six years old and as handsome as a picture. The latter has been named Cleveland, after the colonel’s favor- ite Presidential candidate. The entire herd is in as fine condition as any beef cattle, though they were never fed anything but hay and are never given any shelter. In fact they don’t take kindly to shelter, and whether a blizzard is biowing, with the mercury 20 degrees below zero, _or the sun pouring down his scorching rays, with the thermometer 110 degrees above, they set their heads resoiutely toward storm or sun and take their medicine as if they liked it. Hon. W. F. Cody, “ Buffalo Bill,” tried to buy the whole herd two years ago to take to Europe with his Wild West Show, but they were not for sale at his own figures, and, in- deed, there is no anxiety to dispose of them at any figures. The rail- 1oad company has been glad to furnish them pasturage for the sake of adding to the attractions of the park, in which there are also forty-three head of deer, including two as fine bucks as ever trotted over the national deer trail toward the salt-licks in northern Utah. ‘¢ While the bison at Bismark Grove are splendid specimens of their class, ‘‘ Cleveland” is decidedly the pride of the herd, and as grand a 462 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. creature as ever trod the soil of Kansas on four legs. He is just six years old and is a perfect specimen of the kings of the plains. There is royal blood in his veins, and his coat is finer than the imperial purple. It is not possible to get at him to measure his stature and weight. He must weigh fully 3,000 pounds, and it is doubtful if there is to-day living on the face of the earth a handsomer buffalo bull than he. ‘‘Cleveland’s” disposition is not so ugly as old Barney’s was, but at certain seasons he is very wild, and there is no one venturesome enough to go into the in- closure. It is then not altogether safe to even look over the high and heavy board fence at him, for he is likely to make a run for the visitor, as the numerous holes in the fence where he has knocked off the boards will testify.” Herd of Mr. Frederick Dupree, Cheyenne Indian Agency, near Fort Bennett, Dakota.—This herd contains at present nine pure-blood buf- faloes, five of which are cows and seven mixed bloods. Of the former, there are two adult bulls and four adult cows. Of the mixed blood animals, six are half-breeds and one a quarter-breed buffalo. Mr. Dupree obtained the nucleus of his herd in 1882, at which time he captured five wild calves about 100 miles west of Fort Bennett. Of these, two died after two months of captivity and a third was killed by an Indian in 1885. Mr. D. F. Carlin, of the Indian service, at Fort Bennett, has kindly furnished me the following information respecting this herd, under date of November 1, 1888 : “The animals composing this herd are all in fine condition and are quite tame. They keep by themselves most of the time, except the oldest bull (six years old), whe seems to appreciate the company of do- mestic cattle more than that of his own family. Mr. Dupree has kept one half-breed bull as an experiment; he thinks it will produce a hardy class of cattle. His half-breeds are all black, with one exception, and that is a roan; but they are all built like the buffalo, and when young they grunt more like a hog than like a ealf, the same as a full-blood buffalo. ‘‘Mr. Dupree has never lost a [domestic] cow in giving birth to a half- breed calf, as was supposed by many people would be the case. There. have been no sales from this herd, although the owner has a standing offer of $650 for a cow avd bull. The cows are not for sale at any price. Herd at Lincoln Park, Chicago, Mr. W. P. Walker, superintendent.— This very interesting and handsomely-kept herd is composed of seven individuais of the following character: One bull eight years old, one bull four years old, two cows eight years old, two cows two years old in the spring of 1888, and one 2 calf born in the spring of 1888. Zoological Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio.—This collection contains four bison, an adult bull and cow, and one immature specimen. Dr. V. T. McGillicuddy, Rapid City, Dakota, has a herd of four pure buffaloes and one half-breed, Of the former, the two adults, a bull and THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 463 cow seven years old, were caught by Sioux Indians near the Black Hills for the owner in the spring of 1882. ‘The Indians drove two milch cows to the range to nourish the calves when caught. These have produced two calves, one of which, a bull, is now three years old, and the other is a yearling heifer. Central Park Menagerie, New York, Dr. W. A. Conktin, director.—This much-visited collection contains four bison, an adult bull and cow, a two-year-old calf, and a yearling. Mr. John H. Starin, Glen Island, near New York City.—There are four buffaloes at this summer resort. The U.S. National Museum, Washington, District of Columbia —The collection of the department of living animals at this institution con- tains two fine young buffaloes; a bull four years old in July, 1888, and a cow three years old in May of the same year. ‘These animals were cap- tured in western Nebraska, when they were calves, by H. R. Jackett, of Ogalalla, and kept by him on his ranch until 1888. In April, 1888, Hon. Eugene G. Blackford, of New York, purchased them of Mr. Fred- erick D. Nowell, of North Platte, Nebraska. for $400 for the pair, and presented them to the National Museum, in the hope that they might form the nucleus of:a herd to be owned and exhibited by the United States Government in or near the city of Washington. The two ani- mals were received in Ogalalla by Mr. Joseph Palmer, of the National Museum, and by him they were brought on to Washington in May, in fine condition. Since their arrival they have been exhibited to the public in a temporary inclosure on the Smithsonian Grounds, and have attracted much attention. Mr. B. C. Winston, of Hamline, Minnesota, owns a pair of buffaloes, one of which, a young bull, was caught by him in western Dakota in the spring of 1886, soon after its birth. The cow was purchased at -Rosseau, Dakota Territory, a year later, for $225. Mr. I. P. Butler, of Colorado, Texas, is the owner of a young bull buf- falo and a half-breed calf. Mr. Jesse Huston, of Miles City, Montana, owns a fine five-year-old bull buffalo. Mr, L. F. Gardner, of Bellwood, Oregon, is the owner of a large adult bull. Tke Riverside Ranch Company, south of Mandan, Dakota, owns a pair of full-blood buffaloes. In Dakota, in the hands of parties unknown, there are four full-blood buffaloes. Mr. James R. Hitch, of Optima, Indian Territory, has a pair of young buffaloes, which he has offered for sale for $750. ; Mr. Joseph A. Hudson, of Estell, Nebraska, owns a three-year-old bull buffalo, which is for sale. In other countries there are live specimens of Bison americanus re- ported as follows: two at Belleview Gardens, Manchester, Eugland; 464 - REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. one at the Zoological Gardens, London; one at Liverpool, England (purchased of Hon. W. F. Cody in 1888); two at the Zoological Gar- dens, Dresden; one at the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta. Statistics of full-blood buffaloes in captivity January 1, 1889, Number kept for, breeding purposesscc 4.c se ie aes eee eee 216 Num bere p tpfor ce xD UO Meeps eae ele hee ageless eee 40 Total pure-blood buffaloes in captivity ...........-----.------ eens nett 256 Wild buffaloes under Government protection in the Yellowstone Park .......--. 200 Number: of, mixed=breed puitalo—domestic¢s)-so----- 42 =25s2-6) eee eee 40 There are, without doubt, a few half-breeds in Manitoba of which I have no account. It is probable there are also a very few more captive buffaloes scattered singly here and there which will be heard of later, but the total will be a very small number, I am sure. PART II.—THE EXTERMINATION. I. CAUSES OF THE EXTERMINATION. The causes which led to the practical extinction (in a wild state, at least) of the most economically valuable wild animal that ever inhab- ited the American continent, are by no means obscure. It is well that we should know precisely what they were, and by the sad fate of the buffalo be warned in time against allowing similar causes to produce the same results with our elk, antelope, deer, moose, caribou, mountain sheep, mountain goat, walrus, and other animals. It will be doubly deplorable if the remorseless slaughter we have witnessed during the last twenty years carries with it no lessons for the future. A continu- ation of the record we have lately made as wholesale game butchers will justify posterity in dating us back with the mound-builders and cave-dwellers, when man’s only known function was to slay and eat. The primary cause of the buffalo’s extermination, and the one which embraced all others, was the descent of civilization, with all its ele- ments of destructiveness, upon the whole of the country inhabited by that animal. From the Great Slave Lake to the Rio Grande the home of the buffalo was everywhere overrun by the man with a gun; and, as has ever been the case, the wild creatures were gradually swept away, the largest and most conspicuous forms being the first to go. The secondary causes of the extermination of the buffalo may be catalogued as follows: (1) Man’s reckless greed, his wanton seainaeHRenicae and improvi- dence in not husbanding such resourees as come to him from the hand of nature ready made. (2) The total and utterly inexcusable absence of protective measures and agencies on the part of the National Government and of the West- ern States and Territories. (3) The fatal preference on the part of hunters generally, both white THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 465 and red, for the robe and flesh of the cow over that furnished by the bull. (4) The phenomenal stupidity of the animals themselves, and their indifference to man. (5) The perfection of modern breech-loading rifles and other sporting fire-arms in general. Each of these causes acted against the buffalo with its full force; to offset which there was not even one restraining or preserving influence, and itis not to be wondered at that the species went down before them. Had any one of these conditions been eliminated the result would have been reached far less quickly. Had the buffalo, for example, possessed one-half the fighting qualities of the grizzly bear he would have fared very differently, but his inoffensiveness and lack of courage almost leads one to doubt the wisdom of the Boga IS” of nature so far as it relates to him. II. METHODS OF SLAUGHTER. 1. The still-hunt.—Of all the deadly methods of buffalo slaughter, the still-hunt was the deadliest. Of all the methods that were unsports- manlike, unfair, ignoble, and utterly reprehensible, this was in every . respect the lowest and the worst. Destitute of nearly every element of the buoyant excitement and spice of danger that accompanied genu- ine buffalo hunting on horseback, the still-hunt was mere butchery of the tamest and yet most cruel kind. About it there was none of the true excitement of the chase; but there was plenty of greedy eagerness to “down” as many “head” as possible every day, just as there is in every Slaughter-house where the killers are paid so much per head. Judging from all accounts, it was about as exciting and dangerous work as it would be to go out now and shoot cattle on the Texas or Montana ranges. The probabilities are, however, that shooting Texas cattle would be the most dangerous ; for, instead of running from a man on foot, as the buffalo used to do, range cattle usually charge down upon him, from motives of curiosity, perhaps, and not infrequently place his life in considerable jeopardy. The buffalo owes his extermination very largely to his own unparalleled stupidity; for nothing else could by any possibility have enabled the still-hunters to accomplish what they did in such an incredibly short time. So long as the chase on horseback was the order of the day, it ordinarily required the united efforts of from fifteen to twenty-five hunters to kill a thousand buffalo ina single season; but a single still- hunter, with a long-range breech-loader, who knew how to make a * “sneak” and get “a stand on a bunch,” often succeeded in killing from one to three thousand in one season by his own unaided efforts. Capt. Jack Brydges, of Kansas, who was one of the first to begin the final slaughter of the southern herd, killed, by contract, one thou- sand one hundred and forty-two paripes in we weeks. H. Mis. 600, pt. 2——30 466 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. So long as the buffalo remained in large herds their numbers gave each individual a feeling of dependence upon his fellows and of general security from harm, even in the presence of strange phenomena which he could not understand. When he heard a loud report and saw a little cloud of white smoke rising from a gully, a clump of sage-brush, or the top of a ridge, 200 yards away, he wondered what it meant, and held himself in readiness to follow his leader in case she should run away. But when the leader of the herd, usually the oldest cow, fell bleeding upon the ground, and no other buffalo promptly assumed the leadership of the herd, instead of acting independently and fleeing from the alarm, he merely did as he saw the others do, and waited his turn to be shot. Latterly, however, when the herds were totally broken up, when the few survivors were scattered in every direction, and it became a case of every buffalo for himself, they became wild and wary, ever ready to start off at the slightest alarm, and run indefinitely. Had they shown the same wariness seventeen years ago that the survivors have mani- fested during the last three or four years, there would now be a hun- dred thousand head alive instead of only about three hundred in a wild and unprotected state. Notwithstanding the merciless war that had been waged against the buffalo for over a century by both whites and Indians, and the steady decrease of its numbers, as well asits range, there were several million head on foot, not only up to the completion of the Union Pacific Rail- way, but as late as the year 1870. Up to that time the killing done by white men had been chiefly for the sake of meat, the demand for robes was moderate, and the Indians took annually less than one hundred thousand for trading. Although half a million buffaloes were killed by Indians, half-breeds, and whites, the natural increase was so very con- siderable as to make it seem that the evil day of extermination was yet far distant. But by a coincidence which was fatal to the buffalo, with the build- ing of three lines of railway through the most populous buffalo country there came a demand for robes and hides, backed up by an unlimited supply of new and marvellously accurate breech-loading rifles and fixed ammunition. And then followed a wild rush of hunters to the buffalo country, eager to destroy as many head as possible in the shortest time. For those greedy ones the chase on horseback was “too slow” and too unfruitful. That was a retail method of killing, whereas they wanted to kill by wholesale. From their point of view, the still-hunt or “sneak” hunt was the method par excellence. If they could have obtained Gat- ling guns with which to mow down a whole herd at a time, beyond a doubt they would have gladly used them. The still-hunt was seen at its very worst in the years 1871, 1872, and 1873, on the southern buffalo range, and ten years later at its best in Montana, on the northern. Let us first consider it at its best, which in principle was bad enough. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 467 The great rise in the price of robes which followed the blotting out of the great southern herd at once put buffalo-hunting on a much more comfortable and respectable business basis in the North than it had ever occupied in the South, where prices had all along been phenomenally low. In Montana it was no uncommon thing for a hunter to invest from $1,000 to $2,000 in his “outfit” of horses, wagons, weapons, ammuni- tion, provisions, and sundries. One of the men who accompanied the Smithsonian Expedition for Buffalo, Mr. James McNaney, of Miles City, Montana, was an ex-buffalo hunter, who had spent three seasons on the northern range, killing buffalo for their robes, and his standing as a hunter was of the best. A brief description of his outfit and its work during its last season on on the range (1882—’83) may fairly be taken as a typical illustration of the life and work of the still-hunter at its best. The only thing against it was the extermination of the buffalo. During the winters of 1880 and 1881 Mr. McNaney had served in Max. well’s outfit as a hunter, working by the month, but his success in kill- ing was such that he decided to work the third year on his own account, Although at that time only seventeen years of age, he took an elder brother as a partner, and purchased an outfit in Miles City, of which the following were the principal items: Two wagons, 2 four-horse teams, 2 saddle-horses, 2 wall-tents, 1 cook-stove with pipe, 1 40-90 Sharp’s rifle (breech-loading), 1 45-70 Sharps rifle (breech-loading), 1 45-120 Sharps rifle (breech-loading), 50 pounds gunpowder, 550 pounds lead, 4,500 primers, 600 brass shells, 4 sheets patch-paper, 60 Wilson skinning knives, 3 butcher’s steels, 1 portable grindstone, flour, bacon, baking- powder, coffee, sugar, molasses, dried apples, canned vegetables, beans, ete., in quantity. The entire cost of the outfit was about $1,400. Two men were hired for the season at $50 per month, and the party started from Miles City on November 10, which was considered a very late start. The usual time of setting out for the range was about October 1. The outfit went by rail northeastward to Terry, and from thence across country south and east about 100 miles, around the head of O’Fallon Creek to the head of Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Little Missouri. A good range was selected, without enroachment upon the domains of the hunters already in the field, and the camp was made near the bank of the creek, close to a supply of wood and water, and screened from distant observation by a circle of hills and ridges. The two rectangular wall-tents were set up end to end, with the cook-stove in the middle, where the ends came together. In one tent the cooking and eating was done, and the other contained the beds. It was planned that the various members of the party should cook turn about, a week at a time, but one of them soon developed such a 468 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. rare and conspicuous talent for bread-making and general cookery that he was elected by acclamation to cook during the entire season. To the other three members fell the hunting. Each man hunted sep- arately from the others, and skinned all the animals that his rifle brought down. _ There were buffalo on the range when the hunters arrived, and the killing began at once. At daylight the still-hunter sallied forth on foot, carrying in his hand his huge Sharps rifle, weighing from 16 to 19 pounds, with from seventy-five to one hundred loaded cartridges in his two belts or his pockets. At his side, depending from his belt, hung his “hunter’s companion,” a flat leather scabbard, containing a ripping knife, a skinning knife, and a butcher’s steel upon which to sharpen them. The total weight carried was very considerable, seldom less than 36 pounds, and often more. Inasmuch as it was highly important to move camp as seldom as pos- sitle in the course of a season’s work, the hunter exercised the greatest precaution in killing his game, and had ever before his mind the neces- sity of doing his killing without frightening away the survivors. With ten thousand buffaloes on their range, it was considered the height of good luck to find a “bunch” of fifty head in a secluded “draw” or hollow, where it was possible to ‘make a kill” without dis- turbing the big herd. The still-hunter usually went on foot, for when buffaloes became so scarce as to make it necessary for him to ride his occupation was prac- tically gone. At the time I speak of, the hunter seldom had to walk ° more than 3 miles from camp to find buffalo, in case there were any at all on his range, and it was usually an advantage to be without a horse. From the top of a ridge or high butte the country was carefully scanned, and if several small herds were in sight the one easiest to approach was selected as the one to attack. It was far better to find a herd lying down or quietly grazing, or sheltering from a cold wind, than to find it traveling, for while a hard run of a mile or two often enabled the hun- ter to “‘head off” a moving herd and kill a certain number of animals out of it, the net results were never half so satisfactory as with herds absolutely at rest. Having decided upon an attack, the hunter gets to leeward of his game, and approaches it according to the nature of the ground. If it is in a hollow, he secures a position at the top of the nearest ridge, as close as he can get. If it is in a level ‘ flat,” he looks for a gully up which he can skulk until within good rifle-shot. If there is no gully, he may be obliged to crawl half a mile on his hands and knees, often through snow or amongst beds of prickly pear, taking advantage of even such scanty cover as sage-brush affords. Some Montana still- hunters adopted the method of drawing a gunny-sack over the entire upper half of the body, with holes cut for the eyes and arms, which simple but unpicturesque arrangement often enabled the hunter to PLATE XIV. Hornaday. Report of National Museum, 1887. ‘WUNesNIA) [PUONeN Ou} Ul aso] +H “pf Aq suizUyed e Wo14 “ADNVY NYFHLYON SHL NO SAO1VSANG ONILNOH-T1HLS Ye op We hy V7 THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 469 approach his game much more easily and more closely than would otherwise have been possible. ‘Having secured a position within from 100 to 250 yards of his game (often the distance was much greater), the hunter secures a comfortable rest for his huge rifle, all the time keeping his own person thoroughly hidden from view, estimates the distance, carefully adjusts his sights, and begins business. If the herd is moving, the animal in the lead is the first one shot, close behind the fore leg and about a footabove the brisket, which sends the ball through the lungs. If the herd is at rest, the oldest cow is always supposed to be the leader, and she is the one to kill first. The noise startles the buffaloes, they stare at the little cloud of white smoke and feel inclined to run, but seeing their leader hesitate they wait for her. She, when struck, gives a violent start forward, but soon stops, and the blood begins to run from her nostrils in two bright crimson streams. In a couple of minutes her body sways unsteadily, she staggers, tries hard to keep her feet, but soon gives a lurch side- wise and falls. Some of the other members of the herd come around her and stare and sniff in wide-eyed wonder, and one of the more wary starts to lead the herd away. But before she takes half a dozen steps “ bang!” goes the hidden rifle again, and her leadership is ended forever. Her fall only increases the bewilderment of the survivors over a proceeding which to them is strange and unaccountable, because the danger is not visible. They cluster around the fallen ones, sniff at the warm blood, bawl aloud in wonderment, and do everything but run away. The policy of the hunter is to not fire too rapidly, but to attend closely to business, and every time a buffalo attempts to make off, shoot it down. One shot per minute was a moderate rate of firing, but under pressure of circumstances two per minute ceuld be discharged with deliberate precision. With the most accurate hunting rifle ever made, a ‘“ dead rest,” and a large mark practically motionless, it was no wonder that nearly every shot meant a dead buffalo. The vital spot on a buffalo which stands with its side to the hunter is about a foot in diameter, and on a full-grown bull is considerably more. Under such conditions as the above, which was called getting ‘‘a stand,” the hunter nurses his victims just as an angler plays a big fish with light tackle, and in the most methodical manner murders them one by one, either until the last one falls, his cartridges are all expended, or the stupid brutes come to their senses and run away. Occasionally the poor fellow was troubled by having his rifle get too hot to use, but if a snow-bank was at hand he would thrust the weapon into it without ceremony to cool it off. A success in getting a stand meant the slaughter of a good-sized herd. A hunter whom I met in Montana, Mr. Harry Andrews, told me that he once fired one hundred and fifteen shots from one spot and killed sixty-three buffalo in less than an hour. The highest number Mr. Me- Nancy ever knew of being killed in one stand was ninety-one head, but A470 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Colonel Dodge once counted one hundred and twelve carcasses of buffalo “inside of a semicircle of 200 yards radius, all of which were killed by one man from the same spot, and in less than three-quarters of an hour.” The “kill” being completed, the hunter then addressed himself to the task of skinning his victims. The northern hunters were seldom guilty of the reckless carelessness and lack of enterprise in the treatment of robes which at one time was so prominent a feature of work on the southern range. By the time white men began to hunt for robes on the northern range, buffalo were becoming comparatively scarce, and robes were worth from $2 to $4each. The fur-buy¥ers had taught the hunters, with the potent argument of hard cash, that a robe carefully and neatiy taken off, stretched, and kept reasonably free from blood and dirt, was worth more money in the market than one taken off in a slovenly man- ner, and contrary to the nicer demands of the trade. After 1880, buffalo on the northern range were skinned with considerable care, and amongst the robe-hunters not one was allowed to become a loss when it was - possible to prevent it. Every full-sized cow robe was considered. equal to $3.50 in hard cash, and treated accordingly. The hunter, or skinner, always stretched every robe out on the ground to its fullest extent while it was yet warm, and cut the initials of his employer in the thin subcutaneous muscle which always adhered to the inside of the skin. A warm skin is very elastic, and when stretched upon the ground the hair holds it in shape until it either dries or freezes, and so retains its full size. On the northern range skins were so valuable that many a dispute arose between rival outfits over the ownership of a dead buf- falo, some of which produced serious results. | 2. The chase on horseback or “running buffalo.”—Next to the still-hunt the method called “running buffalo” was the most fatal to the race, and the one most universally practiced. To all hunters, save greedy white men, the chase on horseback yielded spoil sufficient for every need, and it also furnished sport of a superior kind—manly, exhilarating, and well spiced with danger. Even the horses shared the excitement and eager- ness of their riders. So long as the weapons of the Indian consisted only of the bow and arrow and the spear, he was obliged to kill at close quarters or not at all. And even when fire-arms were first placed in his hands their cali- ber was so small, the charge so light, and the Indian himself so poor a marksman at long range, that his best course was still to gallop along- side the herd on his favorite “buffalo horse” and kill at the shortest possible range. From all accounts, the Red River half-breeds, who hunted almost exclusively with fire-arms, never dreamed of the deadly. still-hunt, but always killed their game by “running” it. In former times even the white men of the plains did the most of their buffalo hunting on horseback, using the largest-sized Colt’s re- volver, sometimes one in each hand, until the repeating-rifle made its THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. ATZ1 appearance, which in a great measure displaced the revolver in running buffalo. But about that time began the mad warfare for “robes” and “hides,” and the only fair and sportsmanlike method of hunting was declared too slow for the greedy buffalo-skinners. Then came the cold-blooded butchery of the still-hunt. From that time on the buffalo as a game animal steadily lost caste. It soon came to be universally considered that there was no sport in hunting buffalo. True enough of still-hunting, where the hunter sneaks up and shoots them down one by one at such long range the report of his big rifle does not even frighten them away. So far as sportsmanlike fairness is concerned, that method was not one whit more elevated than killing game by poison. But the chase on horseback was a different thing. Its successful prosecution demanded a good horse, a bold rider, a firm seat, and per- fect familiarity with weapons. The excitement of it was intense, the dangers not to be despised, and, above all, the buffalo had a fair show for his life, or partially so, at least. The mode of attack is easily de- seribed. Whenever the hunters discovered a herd of buffalo, they usually got to leeward of it and quietly rode forward in a body, or stretched out in a regular skirmish line, behind the shelter of a knoll, perhaps, until they had approached the herd as closely as could be done without alarming it. Usually the unsuspecting animals, with a confidence due more to their great numbers than anything else, would allow a party of horsemen to approach within from 200 to 400 yards of their flankers, and then they would start off on a slow trot. The hunters then put spurs to their horses and dashed forward to overtake the herd as quickly as possible. Once up with it, each hunter chooses the best ani- mal within his reach, chases him until his flying steed carries him close alongside, and then the arrow or the bullet is sent into his vitals. The fatal spot is from 12 to 18 inches in circumference, and lies immediately back of the fore leg, with its lowest point on a line with the elbow. This, the true chase of the buffalo, was not only exciting, but dan- gerous. It often happened that the hunter found himself surrounded by the flying herd, and in a cloud of dust, so that neither man nor horse could see the ground before them. Under such circumstances fatal accidents to both men and horses were numerous. It was not an un- common thing for half-breeds to shoot each other in the excitement of the chase; and, while now and then a wounded bull suddenly turned upon his Heuer and overthrew him, the eeupatent number of casualties were from falls. Of the dangers involved in running buffalo Colonel Dodge writes as follows :* ‘The danger is not so much from the buffalo, which rarely makes an effort to injure his pursuer, as from the fact that neither man nor horse aw * Plains of the Great West, p. 127. A472 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. . can see the ground, which may be rough and broken, or perforated with prairie-dog or gopher holes. This danger is so imminent, that a man who runs into a herd of buffalo may be said to take his life in his hand. I have never known a man hurt by a buffalo in such a chase. I have known of at least six killed, and a very great many more or less injured, some very severely, by their horses falling with them.” On this point Catlin declares that to engage in running buffalo is ‘cat the hazard of every bone in one’s body, to feel the fine and thrilling exhilaration of the chase for a moment, and then as often to upbraid and blame himself for his folly and imprudence.” Previous to my first experience in ‘‘ running buffalo” I had enter- tained a mortal dread of ever being called upon to ride a chase across a prairie-dog town. ‘The mouth of a prairie-dog’s burrow is amply large to receive the hoof of a horse, and the angle at which the hole descends into the earth makes it just right for the leg of a running horse to plunge into up to the knee and bring down both horse and rider in- stantly ; the former with a broken leg, to say the least ofit. If the rider sits loosely, and promptly resigns his seat, he will go flying forward, as if thrown from a catapult, for 20 feet or so, perhaps to escape with a few broken bones, and perhaps to have his neck broken, or his skull fractured on the hard earth. If he sticks tightly to his saddle, his horse is almost certain to fall upon him, and perhaps kill him. Judge, then, my feelings when the first bunch of buffalo we started headed straight across the largest prairie-dog town I had ever seen up to that time. And not only was the ground honey-combed with gaping round holes, but it was also crossed here and there by treacherous ditch-like gullies, eut straight down into the earth to an uncertain depth, and so narrow as to be invisible until it was almost time to leap across them. But at such a time, with the game thundering along a few rods in ad- vance, the hunter thinks of little else except getting uptoit. He looks as far ahead as possible, and helps his horse to avoid dangers, but to a great extent the horse must guide himself. The rider plies his spurs and looks eagerly forward, almost feverish with excitement and eager- ness, but at the same time if he is wise he expects a fall, and holds him- self in readiness to take the ground with as little damage as he can. Mr. Catlin gives a most graphic description of a hunting accident, which may fairly be quoted in full as a type of many such. I must say that I fully sympathize with M. Chardon in his estimate of the hard- ness of the ground he fell upon, for [ have a painful recollection of a fall I had from which I arose with the settled conviction that the ground in Montana is the hardest in the world! Itseemed more like falling upon cast-iron than prairie turf. “TJ dashed along through the thundering mass as they swept away over the plain, scarcely able to tell whether I was on a buffalo’s back or my horse, hit and hooked and jostled about, till at length I found myself alongside my game, when I gave him a shot as I passed him. | =~ PLATE XV. Report of National Museum, 1887.—Hornaday. "ul|zeD Eed10a Ag winasn| jeuoNeN ey} ul Suijuled e Wol4 “MOVEASHYOH NO ASVHD SHL THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 473 I saw guns flash about me in several directions, but I heard them not. Amidst the trampling throng Mons. Chardon had wounded a stately bull, and at this moment was passing him with his piece leveled for another shot. They were both at full speed and I also, within the reach of the muzzle of my gun, when the bull instantly turned, receiv- ing the horse upon his horns, and the ground received poor Chardon, - who made a frog’s leap of some 20 feet or more over the bull’s back and almost under my horse’s heels. I wheeled my horse as soon as possible and rode back where lay poor Chardon, gasping to start his breath again, and within a few paces of him his huge victim, with his heels high in the air, and the horse lying across him. I dismounted in- stantly, but Chardon was raising himself on his hands, with his eyes and mouth full of dirt, and feeling for his gun, which lay about 30 feet in advance of him. ‘Heaven spare you! are you hurt, Chardon?’ ‘ Hi-hic—hic—hic—hic——no ;—hic—no—no, I believe not. Oh, this is not much, Mons. Cataline—this is nothing new—but this is a d—d hard piece of ground here—hic—oh! hic!’ At this the poor fellow fainted, but in a few moments arose, picked up his gun, took his horse by the bit, which then opened its eyes, and with a hie and a ugh— ughk !—sprang upon its feet, shook off the dirt, and here we were, all upon our legs again, save the bull, whose fate had been more sad than that of either.” * The following passage from Mr. Alexander Ross’s graphic description of a great hunt,t in which about four hundred hunters made an on- slaught upon a herd, affords a good illustration of the dangers in run- ning buffalo: “On this occasion the surface was rocky and full of badger-holes. Twenty-three horses and riders were at one moment all sprawling on the ground; one horse, gored by a bull, was killed on the spot; two more were disabled by the fall; one rider broke his shoulder-blade; another burst his gun and lost three of his fingers by the accident; and a third was struck on the knee by an exhausted ball. These acci- dents will not be thought overnumerous, considering the result, for in the evening no less than thirteen hundred and seventy-five tongues were brought into camp. It really seems as if the horses of the plains entered willfully and knowingly into the war on the doomed herds. But for the willingness and even genuine eagerness with which the “ buffalo horses” of both white men and Indians entered into the chase, hunting on horseback would have been attended with almost insurmountable difficulties, and the results would have been much less fatal to the species. According to all accounts the horses of the Indians and half-breeds were far better trained than those of their white rivals, no doubt owing to the fact that the use of the bow, which required the free use of both hands, * North American Indians, I, pp. 25-26. tRed River Settlement, p. 256. A474 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. was only possible when the horse took the right course of his own free will or else could be guided by the pressure of the knees. If we may believe the historians of that period, and there is not the slightest — reason to doubt them, the “ buffalo horses” of the Indians displayed al- most as much intelligence and eagerness in the chase as did their human riders. Indeed, in “running buffalo” with only the bow and arrow, nothing but the willing co-operation of the horse could have possibly made this mode of hunting either satisfactory or successful. In Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, volume I, page 387, appears the fol- lowing record: “* He [Sergeant Pryor] had found it almost impossible with two men to drive on the remaining horses, for as soon as they discovered a herd of buffaloes the loose horses immediately set off in pursuit of them, and surrounded the buffalo herd with almost as much skill as their riders could havedone. At last he was obliged to send one horseman forward and drive all the buffaloes from the route.” The Hon. H. H. Sibley, who once accompanied the Red River half- breeds on their annual hunt, relates the following: * ‘One of the hunters fell from his saddle, and was unable to aves his horse, which continued the chase as if he of himself could accom- plish great things, so much do these animals become imbued with a passion for this sport! On another occasion a half-breed left his favorite steed at the camp, to enable him to recruit his strength, enjoin- ing upon his wife the necessity of properly securing the animal, which was not done. Not relishing the idea of being left behind, he started after us and soon was alongside, and thus he continued to keep pace with the hunters in their pursuit of the buffalo, seeming to await with im- patience the fall of some of them to the earth. The chase ended, he came neighing to his master, whom he soon singled out, although the men were dispersed here and there for a distance of miles.” Col. R. I. Dodge, in his Plains of the Great West, page 129, describes a meeting with two Mexican buffalo-hunters whose horses were so fleet and so well trained that whenever a herd of buffalo came in sight, in- stead of shooting their game wherever they came up with it, the one having the best horse would dash into the herd, cut out a fat two-year old, and, with the help of his partner, then actually drive it to their camp before shooting it down. ‘They had a fine lot of meat and a goodly pile of skins, and they said that every buffalo had been driven into camp and killed as the one I saw, ‘It saves a heap of trouble packing the meat to camp,’ said one of them, naively.” Probably never before in the history of the world, until civilized man came in contact with the buffalo, did whole armies of men march out in true military style, with officers, flags, chaplains, and rules of war, and make war on wild animals. No wonder the buffalo has been ex- terminated. So long as they existed north of the Missouri in any con- * Schoolcraft’s ‘‘ North American Indians,” 108. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON, 475 siderable number, the half-breeds and Indians of the Manitoba Red River settlement used to gather each year in a great army, and go with -earts. to the buffalo range. On these great hunts, which took place every year from about the 15th of June to the 1st of September, vast numbers of buffalo were killed, and the supply was finally exhausted. As if Heaven had decreed the extirpation of the species, the half-breed hunters, like their white robe-hunting rivals farther south, always killed cows in preference to bulls so long as a choice was possible, the very course best calculated to exterminate any species in the shortest possi- ble time. The army of half-breeds and Indians which annually went forth from the Red River settlement to make war on the buffalo was often far larger than the army with which Cortez subdued a great empire. As early as 1846 it had become so great, that it was necessary to divide it into two divisions, one of which, the White Horse Plain division, was accustomed to go west by the Assinniboine River to the “rapids crossing-place,” and from there in a southwesterly direction. The Red River division went south to Pembina, and did the most of their hunting in Dakota. The two divisions sometimes met (says Professor Hind), but not inten- tionally. In 1849 a Mr. Flett took a census of the White Horse Plain division, in Dakota Territory, and found that it contained 603 carts, 700 half-breeds, 200 Indians, 600 horses, 200 oxen, 400 dogs, and 1 cat. In his *“‘ Red River Settlement” Mr. Alexander Ross gives the fol- lowing census of the number of carts assembled in camp for the buffalo hunt at five different periods: Number of carts assembled for the first trip. iT OD seers, sie ces Me Sata bas alee Biaaeeiaeee 540 2D LES, ERE se A OO eT a pra A a en 680 LOGI ELC NUS ee RS I apg, cea a A 820 MMAR Bees ssi: sete teks 2b Lede cose oe. SEA se 970 aS O Pe Si ris cess ae cubetschyae eiswicle SPidhels Besides those mentioned above, the collection contained only two old, badly mounted, and dilapidated skins, (one of which bad been taken in summer, and therefore was not representative), an incomplete skeleton, some fragmentary skulls of no value, and two mounted heads. Thus it appeared that the Museum was unable to show a Series of specimens, good or bad, or even one presentable male of good size. In view of this alarming state of affairs, coupled with the already de- elared extinction of Bison americanus, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, determined to send a party into the field at once to find wild buffalo, if any were still living, and in case any were found to collect a number of specimens. Since it seemed highly uncertain whether any other institution, or any private individual, would have the opportunity to collect a large supply of specimens be- fore it became too late, it was decided by the Secretary that the Smith- : sonian Institution should undertake the task of providing for the future as liberally as possible. For the benefit of the smaller scientific mu- H. Mis. 600, pt. 2——34 530 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. seums of the country, and for others which will come into existence during the next half century, it was resolved to collect at all hazards, in case buffalo could be found, between eighty and one hundred speci- mens of various kinds, of which from twenty to thirty should be skins, an equal number should be complete skeletons, and of skulls at least fifty. In view of the great scarcity of buffalo and the general belief that it might be a work of some months to find any specimens, even if it were possible to find any at all, it was determined not to risk the success of the undertaking by delaying it until the regular autumn hunting season, but to send a party into the field at once to prosecute asearch. .Itwasresolved to discover at all hazards the whereabouts of any buffalo that might still remain in this country in a wild state, and, if possible, to reach them before the shedding of their winter pelage. It very soon became ap- parent, however, that the latter would prove an utter impossibility. Late in the nionth of April a letter was received from Dr. J.C. Merrill, United States Army, dated at Huntley, Montana, giving information of reports that buffalo were still to be found in three localities in the North- west, viz: on the headwaters of the Powder River, Wyoming; in Judith Basin, Montana; and on Big Dry Creek, also in Montana. The reports in regard to the first two localities proved to be erroneous. It was ascer- tained to a reasonable certainty that there still existed in southwestern Dakota a small band of six or eight wild buffaloes, while from the Pan- handle of Texas there came reports of the existence there, in small scattered bands, of about two hundred head. The buffalo known to be in Dakota were far too few in number to justify a long and expensive search, while those in Texas, on the Canadian River, were too difficult to reach to make it advisable to hunt them save as a last resort. It was therefore decided to investigate the localities named in the North- west. Through the courtesy of the Secretary of War, an order was sent to the officer commanding the Department of Dakota, requesting him to furnish the party, through the officers in command at Forts Keogh, Ma- ginnis, and McKinney, such field transportation, escort, and camp equi- page as might be necessary, and also to sell to the party such commis- sary stores as might be required, at cost price, plus 10 per cent. The Secretary of the Interior also favored the party with an order, directing all Indian agents, scouts, and others in the service of the Department to render assistance as far as possible when called upon. ‘In view of the public interest attaching to the results of the expedi- tion, the railway transportation of the party to and from Montana was farnished entirely without cost to the Smithsonian Institution. For these valuable courtesies we gratefully acknowledge our obligations to Mr. Frank Thomson, of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Mr. Roswell Miller, of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; and Mr. Robert Harris, of the Northern Pacific. Under orders from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the - " TRO eee ae . a a a THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. ouk writer left Washington on May 6, accompanied by A. H. Forney, assist- ant in the department of taxidermy, and George H. Hedley, of Medina, New York. It had beén decided that Miles City, Montana, might prop- erly be taken as the first objective point, and that town was reached on May 9. Diligent inquiry in Miles City and at Fort Keogh, 2 miles distant, re- vealed the fact that no one knew of the presence of any wild buffalo anywhere in the Northwest, save within the protected limits of the Yel- lowstone Park. All inquiries elicited the same reply: ‘‘ There are no buffalo any more, and you can’t get any anywhere.” Many persons who were cousidered good authority declared most positively that there was not a live buffalo in the vicinity of Big Dry Creek, nor anywhere be- tween the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. An army officer from Fort Maginnis testified to the total absence of buffalo in the Judith Basin, and ranchmen from Wyoming asserted that none remained in the Pow- der River country. Just at this time it was again reported to us, and most opportunely confirmed by Mr. Henry R. Phillips, owner of the L U-bar ranch on Lit- tle Dry Creek, that there still remained a chance to find a few buffalo in the country lying south of the Big Dry. On the other hand, other persons who seemed to be fully informed regarding that very region and the animal life it contained, assured us that not a single buffalo remained there, and that a Search in that direction would prove fruitless. But the balance of evidence, however, seemed to lie in favor of the Big Dry country, and we resolved to hunt through it with all possible dispatch. On the afternoon of May 13 we crossed the Yellowstone and started northwest up the trail which leads along Sunday Creek. Our entire party consisted of the two assistants already mentioned, a non-commis- sioned officer, Sergeant Garone, and four men from the Fifth Infantry acting as escort; Private Jones, also from the Fifth Infantry, detailed to act as our cook, and a teamster. Our conveyance consisted of a six- mule team, which, like the escort, was ordered out for twenty days only, and provided accordingly. Before leaving Miles City we purchased two saddle-horses for use in hunting, the equipments for which were fur- nished by the ordnance department at Fort Keogh. During the first two days’ travel through the bad lands north of the Yellowstone no mammals were seen save prairie-dogs and rabbits. On the third day a few antelope were seen, but none killed. It is to be borne in mind that this entire region is absolutely treeless everywhere save along the margins of the largest streams. Bushes are also en- tirely absent, with the exception of sage-brush, and even that does not occur to any extent on the divides. On the third day two young buck antelopes were shot at the Red Buttes. One had already commenced to shed his hair, but the other had not quite reached that point. We prepared the skin of the first specimen and the skeleton of the other. This was the only good ante- 532 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. lope skin we obtained in the spring, those of all the other specimens taken being quite worthless on account of the looseness of the hair. During the latter part of May, and from that time on until the long winter hair is completely shed, it falls off in handfuls at the slightest pressure, leaving the skin clad only with a thin growth of new, mouse- colored hair an eighth of an inch long. After reaching Little Dry Creek and hunting through the country on the west side of it nearly to its confluence with the Big Dry we turned southwest, and finally went into permanent camp on Phillips Creek, 8 miles above the LU-bar ranch and 4 miles from the Little Dry. At that point we were about 80 miles from Miles City. From information furnished us by Mr. Phillips and the cowboys in his employ, we were assured that about thirty-five head of buffalo ranged in the bad lands between Phillips Creek and the Musselshell River and south of the Big Dry. This tract of country was about 40 miles long from east to west by 25 miles wide, and therefore of about 1,000 square miles in area. Excepting two temporary cowboy camps it was totally uninhabited by man, treeless, without any running streams, save in winter and spring, and was mostly very hilly and broken. In this desolate and inhospitable country the thirty-five buffaloes alluded to had been seen, first on Sand Creek, then at the head of the Big Porcupine, again near the Musselshell, and latest near the head of the Little Dry. As these points were all from 15 to 30 miles distant from each other, the difficulty of finding such a small herd becomes apparent. Although Phillips Creek was really the eastern boundary of the buf- falo country, it was impossible for a six-mule wagon to proceed beyond it, at least at that point. Having established a permanent camp, the Government wagon and its escort returned to Fort Keogh, and we pro- ceeded to hunt through the country between Sand Creek and the Little Dry. The absence of nearly all the cowboys on the spring round-up, which began May 20, threatened to be a serious drawback to us, as we greatly needed the services of a man who was acquainted with the country. We had with us as a scout and guide a Cheyenne Indian, named Dog, but it soon became apparent that he knew no more about the country than we did. Fortunately, however, we succeeded in occa- sionally securing the services of a cowboy, which was of great advan- tage to us. It was our custom to ride over the country daily, each day making a circuit through a new locality, and covering as much ground as it was possible to ride over ina day. It was also our custom to take trips of from two to four days in length, during which we carried our blankets and rations upon our horses and camped wherever night overtook us, provided water could be found. Our first success consisted in the capture of a buffalo calf, which from excessive running had become unable to keep up with its mother, THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 533 and had been left behind. The calf was caught alive without any difficulty, and while two of the members of our party carried it to camp across a horse, the other two made a vigorous effort to discover the band of adult animals. The effort was unsuccessful, for, besides the calf, no other buffaloes were seen. Ten days after the above event two bull buffaloes were met with on the Little Dry, 15 miles above the LU-bar ranch, one of which was overtaken and killed, but the other got safely away. The shedding of the winter coat was in full progress. On the head, neck, and shoulders the old hair had been entirely replaced by the new, although the two - coats were so matted together that the old hair clung in tangled masses tothe other. The old hair was brown and weather-beaten, but the new, which was from 3 to 6 inches long, had a peculiar bluish-gray appear- ance. On the head the new hair was quite black, and contrasted oddly with the lighter color. On the body and hind quarters there were large patches of skin which were perfectly bare, between which lay large patches of old, woolly, brown hair. This curious condition gave the animal a very unkempt and “seedy” appearance, the effect of which was heightened by the long, shaggy locks of old, weather-beaten hair which ciung to the new coat of the neck and shoulders like tattered signals of distress, ready to be blown away by the first gust of wind. This specimen was a large one, measuring 5 feet 4 inches in height. Inasmuch as the skin was not in condition to mount, we took only the skeleton, entire, and the skin of the head and neck. The capture of the calf and the death of this bull proved conclusively __ that there were buffaloes in that region, and also that they were breed- ing in comparative security. The extent of the country they had to range over made it reasonably certain that their number would not be diminished to any serious extent by the cowboys on the spring round-up, although it was absolutely certain that in a few months the members of that band would all be killed. The report of the existence of a herd of thirty-five head was confirmed later by cowboys, who had actually seen the animals, and killed two of them merely for sport, as usual. They saved a few pounds of hump meat, and all the rest became food . for the wolves and foxes. It was therefore resolved to leave the buffaloes entirely unmolested until autumn, and then, when the robes would be in the finest condition, return for a hunt on a liberal scale. Accordingly, it was decided to re- turn to Washington without delay, and a courier was dispatched with a request for transportation to carry our party back to Fort Keogh. While awaiting the arrival of the wagons, a cowboy in the employ of the Phillips Land and Cattle Company killed a solitary bull buffalo about 15 miles west of our camp, near Sand Creek. This animal had completely shed the hair on his body and hind quarters. In addition to the preservation of his entire skeleton, we prepared the skin also, as an example of the condition of the buffalo immediately after shedding. 534 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. On June 6 the teams from Fort Keogh arrived, and we immediately returned to Miles City, taking with us our live buffalo calf, two fresh buffalo skeletons, three bleached skeletons, seven skulls, one skin entire, and one head skin, in addition to a miscellaneous collection of skins and skeletons of smaller mammals and birds. On reaching Miles City we hastily packed and shipped our collection, and, taking the calf with us, returned at once to Washington. II. THE Hunt. On September 24 I arrived at Miles City a second time, fully equipped for a protracted hunt for buffalo; this time accompanied only by W. Harvey Brown, a student of the University of Kansas, as field assistant, having previously engaged three cowboys as guides and hunters—Irwin Boyd, James McNaney, and L. 8. Russell. Messrs. Boyd and Russel] were in Miles City awaiting my arrival, and Mr. McNaney joined us in the field a few days later. Mr. Boyd acted as my foreman during the entire hunt, a position which he filled to my entire satisfaction. Thanks to the energy and good-will of the.officers at Fort Keogh, of which Lieutenant-Colonel Cochran was then in command, our transpor- tation, camp equipage, and stores were furnished without an hour’s delay. We purchased two months’ supplies of commissary stores, a team, and two saddle-horses, and hired three more horses, a light wagon, and aset of double harness. Hach of the cowboys furnished one horse; — so that in our outfit we had ten head, a team, and two good saddle- horses for each hunter. The worst feature of the whole question of subsistence was the absolute necessity of hauling a supply of grain from Miles City into the heart of the buffalo country for our ten horses. For such work as they had to encounter it was necessary to feed them constantly and liberally with oats in order to keep them in condition to do their work. We took with us 2,000 pounds of oats, and by the be- ginning of November as much more had to be hauled up to us. Thirty six hours after our arrival in Miles City our outfit was com- plete, and we crossed the Yellowstone and started up the Sunday Creek trail. Wehad from Fort Keogh a six-mule team, an escort of four men, in charge of Sergeant Bayliss, and an old veteran of more than twenty years’ service, from the Fifth Infantry, Private Patrick McCanna, who was detailed to act as cook and camp-guard for our party during our stay in the field. On September 29 we reached Tow’s ranch, the HV, on Big Dry Creek (erroneously called Big Timber Creek on most maps of Montana), at the mouth of Sand Creek, which here flows into it from the southwest. This point is said to be 90 miles from Miles City. Here we received our freight from the six-mule wagon, loaded it with bleached skeletons and skulls of buffalo, and started it back to the post. One member of the escort, Private C. 8. West, who was then on two months’ furlough, elected to join our party for the hunt. and accordingly remained with us to its Report of National Museum, 1887.—Hornaday. PLATE XX. ———— ——s 22. 22> leer eo eee alee yoke eee ee 50 New Hebrides, ethnological objects from.-.-...---- ------- 6. .-0 ---- ee ooo eens 54,70 New Ireland, ethnological objects from......-------- -----..---2+ -----+ o----. 54,70 New Jersey, specimens from. ° 2.) See seek Se eee ee eee ae see. 50 Newlon, Dr. W. S., information furnished to..-......--..-.. s2-.--+---------- 114 Now Mexico, accessions from: 5. - 22am ee pie aie ee ae eee eee eee G0) American bison in.-....---..- Sos aosc95sdeg02 sepesa cass cesccos 383 New York, accessions:ftom 2+. dat oeh sacha ets ce Laie he nee 50 TACTIC AM ISON aoe rele ee ee oie ats mee ere 385 New Zealand, ethnological objects from...........--. .--- -2-------- one --- =e 70 Nez Percé Indians:)..5eri- eee eee ease ee ease Seetaeus cee 186° cradle board: of thes ..02 2-380 see iow cee Metis ee stent eee rere 186, 187 Niblack, Ensign A. P., sends collections from Alaska.......-..-.-.------- .--- 46, 57 Nicaragua, ethnological objects from...-.. 2.0 2.5222 2502 e8s cone ee roe oan we 68 Nichols, Commander H. E., collects marine specimens.........--.-----.-.---- 135 presents, porpoises.:/3.i: 22 2 sealer cele 17 reptiles from Alaska..........---.------- 103 skulls of porpoise........---.- sdielsotaets 20 sends collections from Alaska..... sts ulédisw ew iaceeee ome INDEX. Coe Page. Nichols, Commander H. E., sends crystals from Brazil.................2-. ---- 45 MSHS casas cet Meare te at ks emotes eee 107 Maxine mMyerbebratesc. -=-+ saesmc -oee eee. 126 natural history collections.-...-.--.-------- 57 TEPOUES ess Cece nc owas ae Sa ase eee 19 Peete ea eWNISS NONCS ooo cc aust ec Sat ce Gace ecw i cuits oo wecesscGes ao selesencnaen, ED Nicklin, J. B., lends a carved pipe and copper ax....----.-...--.--.-.------- 52 Naples Drwiem\ Vc Sends head-of fossil fish... 2.2.2.0: 5522) oee) totes fee ek 52 eer TMONeS INDO LNGL auntie en ctcicre «aoc oe sua seat eee nls eke we hg eos em ee Biel oe 21, 122 Norman, Rev. A. M., sends shells from northern Europe-.-....--..-----.----- 55 Norris, J. Parker, contributes birds’ COCR i Re eM Aaa eminis are kaiatee eae Meher 18, 102 sendsrecssof Larus franklin 2-2-2 s.- 2-52 222- 5-65 esses: 50 North Carolina, American bison in--......---..------: ee har ae girs ti eons COMSEHOMS POM owe oe cw cosrews asst ale selee es peewee 51 Northern Pacific Railroad, valuable assistance rendered by .--.---. .--------- 60 Northwest territories, American bison in. ..--.. 2.2.22 2-2-2 - wens - 2 - eee -- 384 a waaEMmmmrmMen TIS PTRONI Ce 20 ee cie Gui anes ocics. soe one saelee Sew bln em ate sees 55 Mircmnimivalcanic Cush LrOMms..soc2s.0. ss lel ce ole ke escent Lakoce be 56 Nushacak collections {roms...22.5..-----.---0. -.---- PEC ae vies eae 46 AV LSE Lea, TEES gS ei SRR vg Ogi ld ge nea Seem oneal Me ey 169 Nye, Willard, jr., gives specimens of Pileated woodpecker.-.-...---..--.--- aie 51 MOMCE OL MAPS) DY oe flees ache cco c secant cicincee aac me ares 579 Mpeniin-Collece sends birds in’ exchange. --.-.. 2225522262222 eek tees 55, 92 Coralsfimyexchame 6) oe anos ee oie sie etic Oia ence 51, 127 Mla ated C CESSIONS SILOM ccc oe fea ta ces dee ciacss cae tome tee eae eee 54 Moves, OUsdefonmainlon of children im 2-es. 2222. 2 ose) see sees 231 Ocuhnide, completion of work on the --.-.-.- 2.252 02..-2 22. ---s2- --- ee eeoeee 131 Odobenus obesus mounted in Museum workshop.....---..--------------------- 39 See SUM RKCEC LO) asa sian iercis ac) eaiSiul ct we bose cn ee ove care bose aoe te seeh ae 200 WOME In tres ereteisictetd Catia a = wrcecoe Sian sels,e cin Sais eee = Scien een 200 Ohio, American bison in..-..-..-.-. Soe use akslanie cae cease eects Hate am ene eee 385 EHlecinOns TECORVEd frome eens eee sea c eee oa ee ese sores nae cee 51 Oldavordsmammals obtained from bher..-.-.2lc0 02522-2202 tee eek oe coe ee 89 Oleson, Andrew, sends quartz and mica for examination -.--..--..----..----. 53 QNEEES «Sig SERA SSS IAT IS Ae ge ee yeni aR SR cee gee eI ata Pena emerge Soar 325 TON EI MOONE OEP eee cr ne Sas SMC LOE Ud Noe ac decthe! Meine) oui ceate ee Ih 326 SCH PCP weep sae on etn aera ie a Coe e cece sae da hee ese OCI OC OMOCO SOON HOMAVS SSeS GA SE Ses eee Saat AEE pee cede Es epdcsr sas 324 CNA AMMMLINS MOCCASINS WOrl)- Dy 22.42. ..---- 12 las. eoce toe ee= 2200s seenlees 68 emia an seudsspearis from Califoriia 0.2 ...52 2.2. c- 2. -2- snes ves ete. an 47 Oe OMe AMTLe DC AME SOM tena ata claisjepciiniat< seis 2 ote ete w we Betis vse me idee a eleleeee 334 MTGE Seg Cl CHG: Obep sate tra lacicilcntie Sole cide oOo el pacts em ee caer ee ee Tee 175 RCC MINE TSO MMeg eine tes aen es aieicje a eee cit Vejen eg dae Seem mmm tee mere eeaE ee 51 Onesmatnancementiot collection Of 20.02 lc.2 02 hi flee soos fee ee eee 155 UUM MO Mh Obert emt ete crete atric eee aein ceria Sete oitn thn Peta 27 Ornithorhynchus paradoxus mounted in Ae sonee WOnKO NO Py eees te ses a2 oe eats 39 OUP NOMUErA ALLAM MC nope wie ewe tes sccm si vacicicie’ = wsiete celnniss we Sutecme Grasse eens 118 Osborne, J. W., offers to contribute to collection of graphic arts.......-...--.. 13 Osborn, Prof. H., arrangement of the Heteroptera by.----..----..----..----- 118 Osteolomicalcatalosues, entries im thes. 22 5252222 ce Le eset ee eee 128 collection, extent of the...-.....-.-...-... Ae eaett Sone tease Soe 138 DIEPATALOM a WOUK. OM GHC. 2. <5 ho ces cccjccin Suis slemceee scare see ae 40 Ostia y -JUMIPSLceiatnic Seal eciscemtiaccelccscectessisce shames catees Meuse aeece 211 GEV AC CWapacteatiad capes ante) seine ae ataie Moe ictat hata sate capubisic meee eS woe 211 158 INDEX. he. ‘ Page. Quakari monkey presented. 2: isha aera Pe Ne eh a ge 89 Oparbi Vasketry:. esheets ees enemies DEL raise Remo e eee eee ee 268 Ozark Mountains; rock erystalsdromes 4. ue oP ae ee oe 47 | Packard, Dr. A. §., sends specimen of Helix subrupicola from Utah --.--..--.-- 52 a Baddle vole: 5.2. Pacts ane ihe Dae eae emir es mated Ol tinkiw SRE ie eee 337 alankang 24.502 MERA er, RIC ie ci ps SE EARN irk Ale Eg a 291 Paleozoic fossils, C. D. Walcott, honorary curator of department of ..-...-..- ‘a classification of old collections OL. 2-22 22 neon 2 2 coe eee ener = 139 completion of -senies\ofe 2 vese=s- oa 2c see eee ee EERE eee 139 “4 condition ‘of collection Of, 220) 2.52 ass eee 141 } Gistribiw tion OF es Sse Le Me eres Serra eee eee seeoee 2h a TEPOLL ONHELGepaLhnae mpl lyse sere ae ea ee ee ee 139 98 revieweor ‘work Iu -departurent Of. ..--.p=--s0055--aee ae eee 22 ae specialestudies/otycunatoroie seo 4. eee eee ae ee 140 ; Palmer, Dr. Edward, collection of recent plants made by ......--.----.------ , 123 ethnological objects from Mexico collected. by. .--------. 68 4 obtains ancient vases from Chihuahua.......----...---- 71 os plants collected ‘by... o 25-2 ose ee eee oe eee 147 pottery collection obtained from.-.....--..----.-------- 14 a Palmer, : Oseph, assists wi bad erm CswWOlker=—esemaeee ee ee ne see See ene eee 39 ‘ makes casts of fishesand reptiles-...+...----- -----. --2- 2-25 41 4 Pamphietsraddedsto the libraryecse aes eee tear seater een. eee eee eee 25 Panama Railroad Company transfers Easter Island collection across the a hGH. Fo BLS ass ree eer bee oer peed nen ks ee ee ee 15 Papers illustrative of the ‘collections, (list Of. 25. .---- 22 esee soo ee ee 159 Papuan carrying-net.-----..-... Sake eA are Sree he ES So ae 293) fobardesh?/:case Ofstaw hide tecicas ane seeeco ercemee aes see Gee Eee eee 273 Parker, Peter, jr., assistant in department of fishes. ..-.-...-.---------------- 105 Parker, Prof. T. Jeffery, arrangement for exchange with-....-.....----.-+--- Parrish, Stephen, promises to contribute etchings and drawings ....-.-..-.---- Pataconia, ethnologicaliobjectsatrom! 2s 5464 54s 2 See ae eee eee Patagonian wallet: eink ies Sole) sa rs ee NS eS gee eee nee vlan eoereres Pavy, Mrs. Lilla May, sends costumes from Greenland.-..------....-----.---- ethnological objects from Greenland .-.......---- Pawnee Indians, ethnological objects from the ........-. .-------2-'-----<-=--=2 Peabody Museum, Cambridge, sends archzological objects ...--...---..----.- meteoric iron in exchange .........----.- EAC os ae iS eae a Sea el oe Nee ee ee Be ae eo aan oriole Seay eee Beale, Dr A. Cs, hleld=workiot 2528 Goer. se cise nisi we eno eaeiets ose e eee reptiles received from sash esse see el esas cee eee ee eee rocks collected \by asst ty ete eee ee oe ise ee eee Ao eee ene Pearce, Os herbarium’ of, received: ..2 sae ssc oe 255 Seen eae ee eee Pearl=pearime mugselgt ites sae mie sie, Sreyatetsiaye| ee we eats er ay eee eee re Pearlsdtound ini mound 8d 27a Se ke See eee eee eee eee eee Peary, Lieut. R. E., sends ethnological objects from Greenland ..---. .2---.---- zoological and geological specimens ..----.----..--- Pebas croup, fossil shells received from 4he.o--- ono ea - 2 Sel eine eee LAO DUQUE RS Ab ~ Ae airs SAO oe Se and BOD OOR ee Edo Bee DOsaa0ls sSein20 a= Pectens:. sel. ee Pee ces tee ee ee Sibi oalla eis come ores eee Peddlerscse se) svi cote eS sare smell oe care ree reread ece eta eaten eee ee Pele MONCY sane oe ee 2K Pare LOREEN Sate ira St iin! c a eats alc Peling, A. A., Bavehen rae oeamed eee Bie Ae eae AS a A Pelseneer; Paul, notice or qaper Diya sete eke eae ee alee eee eee studies pteropods: sees eee arate = 0 neh ae teeta eet eee INDEX. tag Page Pelseneer, Paul, wishes to study pteropod mollusks..-....--.....--..---------- 31 Penns vivatiar PATEL Cat DISOMMM Sac Joe oid od claicaye aij «amie sais Acinesesioe ae 385 Collections monte sn sa) SS. soe See cis aleaee osivis semis eas ae eeeei=e 51 Perak Museum, arrangement for exchange with........---.-------+---------- 22 TP Eariearalrlictle jy Q eh Se SE aN Ie Ree Se aren peeeie nerER T {5 Pernambuco, ethnological objects from ...... -.-...-- Eee ae: Seep eapame = ae A 57 EERO pil pSeuds MmiNeral Ss IMiexcChane@e! - =. 2.6 22. ns le cea cen es esehe scram 149 Persia, ethnological objects sent in exchange by Charles Heape from..---. ..-. eh PRIPSIGNT WQIEPA-CARH IE GaSA 50 Eade Se Abou Bens Clon cee Oo emo eoeenesseorceres coc cc 2384 PERU ana TC lesanl ditis)N MOM. teu ccires sania a) ain <)ne tin inl slots anes pene 57 PHO LOPTCAlsODICCUS MOM joel Sales 2 Sissi =) ain sie ial= O ajintmininne,ciniars.o Stale toe aia 45, 68 etinianapoObter\y OMDuaIMed yess ac nse CO eo el le go 15 Phalangista vulpina mounted in Museum workshop..-.-..-.--..--.------------- 39 Bieinss olin) Ga sends, a fossil fish. 2222.2. see -.0c6eace seed enesns eam emicae ce 47 Pinllips, W. Ho repitles received from. ------ - -- nie enn nin ie n= 103 ACmnCOmmnunnts Ske letON PLrCSCDUed, <<... 52) o-csies- cer oso 25 youee eae accce mene 90 aS Hell RESCMUOG eye ee ne aide 2s ewe Solera s eum ae Sele ee es ahaa 90 Ehomac. soudies: by Dr: KR... C. Stearns om the ...::..--....i---¢ sse5- ease ce 20 Photo-Engraving Company of New York co-operates with section of graphic aris 12 bao ren Net mWOL cc Ob GMO. cases. de of aces ene oad He on ee oa Berse a sees 42 Photogravure Company offers to contribute to collection of graphic arts...-.-. 13 rchnaspNeoLAsimMine, OLes) LOM ON 22.0 4.5 te ccs colons cee cals po ees eee Sige as 45 Nee OMA eS MeCIMUSHMGy OLN) socccs ose eee sates decges eeee se le open ee eee _ 96 Pike Manufacturing Company presents whetstones, etc ..---.---.--+--------- 152 Esbry;vel pA. information furnished to. 2-2-2 eeccos snan eencce eee 23, 147 fossil) plants) s2cc.cccsjenisecisciaciemee so ened Oe MOHICOLOLAPAVOLS | DVice cee ces eenalenaal sees iesealeealeaeelneee 593. MVaASHpDUTNO WH. ly: SONGS HSNES ssc 's\acniclas nei cocinidewmdeloeacensslsecinioccsieccecel 108 Washington, specimens received from ............-- 2-2 22 2 oe ee eee we ee ee nee 53. Water temperatures of Atlantic coast, report upon'the............--.....-.-- 2h WHOIS cheese Sos Seo cde tes sced sod Hose S SE Gee Gosodsadit Shoe sdodeccoSss5 337° Watkins, J. E., curator of section of transportation........---. 220. --2. wee ene- 10,79 Watson, J. K., earthen relics obtained through...... 2.2.2. 2.2225 eeceee ween ee 78: NWabline GansendstbDlackthehani es amcccs se ostien nic scisiei- eee eee a 89 West Virginia, collections received from ...-....-.-. --.--------++eeceee coccee 53 Westwood, Prof. J.O., contributions to library from............ 2.22 cee sees 25 Wetherby, A. G., information furnished to...... 22-22. ---. w200 enon ce eee eee. 114 presents shellssee sees saeee ase cee ce eee ee eae eee nee eee 113 Wires Soe oie cer cis es wrcrala, neta Simian et sick ele ecte eta heel ha ey ae et ee ee ee Whirler; mse of sce sss osae ce nasal semsea cot eee ascot oeemeas ae eee emo ‘ Whiteaves) J; F.; information furnished to.:o520240. 20 Soe So ee eee ee oo yl 14 White, Dr. C. A., acknowledgment of services of .---.........---00 sec PRE es ons ISAS) honorary curator of Mesozoic fossils... ....--. .- e200 22 woee 2-22, 143 notice of papers bys) s2 ces ce Sees See ee oe oe eas - 594 Whitehead, T. L., sends mound specimens... .....2.. 222200 22 22 oe oe oe oe ce ee coe 83 NMBOURE eC eee a ee ee Cod orn cms SOS GaSe Gonos Mee cStiessiognccs 307, 308 Whitfield, J.E., researches by...-...--.-- 2-2-2. 2 ee ee ee ee eee eee ce cceeececee 150 Whittmore, C. A., sends stalagmites and stalactites for examination.......... = 49 Willcox) WivAc, SONGS Shes oe sancleceelcincelsnelsjesesis sane salsa) sacle sclaseleeioaienie ame US Wilkins, Col. J. D., sends head of deer - .---.. .-- 22. 200 cone cone cone coee coence 56 Clk sasesesassee tas sse soaneec cee eeeoe sosno- 50 Willcox collection’ of meteoribes.-\22\5-2 oe) a seeeas ee sae aea ae hearse ee we Ried Willcox, Joseph, collects specimens of blackfish.... 2... 22. 220. wc00 22 cece woe C 90 Williams, Dr. George H., gives specimens of gneiss... .... --2. 22-222 wee coe cone 152 Williams, Hon. Charles P., sends flax from France .... .... -.-.---02 -- 222 one - 56 WallicmesProfHennySicsececiece teeee cosa] seem tesce seeel enone easdiscada ae 140 Wallis, h., presents tin) Orecl 26... s6. soe ceases oe a telal oalenlan anleleninwiee een ee oe Williston, Dr. Samuel W., author of ‘‘ Synopsis of North American Syrphide”.. 119 Bulletins byes see csse oscar ece an saaeeeoateale. 29 notice of paper by 4222. .-2c oe Pe ec ce een ood work on the Riley collection by...........--.------ 117 Willoughby, Charles, ethnological objects sent by ------.--.---------- --53, 58, 65, 67 Wilson, Thomas, archeological collection of............-.----++ s----------- 15, 55, 84 contributes gems... 26.266 co. cece cone coe e co ceee senses sce=== 23 Geliversialechurocsesiesemioseelcciia aamniecee csiselsieleateloelateaeleletet= 32 deposits minerals ..... 220 -c0e peewee cece ne enn ene conn seems 149 information: furnished tos. ssese se cose cece nee oe oceeee aces 114 Wiltheiss, C. T., presents cast of stone pipe.....----------- ---- ----+ eons eens 83 Wine-carrlerin Maderrameseseminencesece vais cectsincinice smcinlelsislatee tarsal laelatata=ie 284 308 AV TELS] eee ie ee eee ie aete total ctnetetatatcietsintnelatefontatchatalsialiatal tet oct talalal a Winnebago Indians, dolls used by..-...-------- ea neaa ay ete Acie raat atade Riana ciete veer 68 Winston, B. C., bison owned by... ----.-.- 252-0002 20 cence ee cese ence ecen nee | 463 Wisconsin, American bison in..--...-+- 222. eeccce cone ceeecene eee ence cece cees 380 ; specimens received from .... ---- ---- + 2+ 2 -e eee ce ne ee ee cee e cee eee 53 Wise, Hon. J. S., presents a loggerhead shrike......-...- 2-2-2222 -2 cece ee cece” 99 INDEX. fe ALE Page. WOM NOMI cei sels wicimneiciccios Sooooec nasodenstdeo noubdocEddacosesnsantooocnaccoo |) Bley SN VMOO CALA lO se etereHaatcels\a2\-\epnjn cian nelnlsiaieia el wians, sa eisinieleciacjetceuciceeleies eae 407 Wood, Lieut. W. M., collects marine objects ...... 22.2... 20. 22 eee e wee eee -- 135 reptilesirecetved) from ooo )2o5)co cccc eden ecae cess siocieseoee 104 sends specimens of Haplochiton zebra ...--..---+-------- 108 Woodpeckers, special study of the.-.. ---. ---- ..---- 2200 ene n ne seen eect ceienne 96 Wood’s Holl, laboratory of Fish Commission at ........ 2... 2200-205 eeeee oes 133 Woolfe, Henry D., forwards a collection of birds from Alaska.............---- 99 Sends marinejobj Cts omiscc ssce ais sieose ceciasiscesicicee desiemae 126 Worms, number of specimens in Museum collection ...... 2.2. 2200-22202 eee- ee 21 Wray, L., offers to send tin-bearing material .... .. 220. 1.22.0 ence ee enne eee eee 28 Winyueckssspecial study Of the 22-0 2552 ccc econ cone ccsnisctoce snsnocesvocs 96 Wryommmovspecimens Tecelved from). 255 sc ccc nce cees core cote cua cr = cccces 53 WaleCollevevexchanves) Within (oon oe L oe sloccenes oes ecsceeccsecenaecsses 149 Memipemcna lope ee ss oko mene aoe eee sued ene aaalowe ine AA a 184 Yarrow, Dr. H. C., acknowledgment of services of.-....-.-.--- nance yaatsae od 57 ' contributes a Green-tailed towhee from Zufli........---.-- 50 honorary curator of reptiles and batrachians..........---- 18, 103 NOLICE) OL PAPELs) DYiais- aie cidweiercecinic cis ce siseesScaeleceeccesee 594 sends foods and reptiles ...... 2. 220 wee wee woo ene wes cocece 56 ee lt oe ORICA DINO ys n= 2 0.o\> s\cie)winis's)=~s'e/eos)aid el calc) ame 'sibe cid aicisiclesisieleeisielmenis 401 Yeates, W. S., assistant curator of minerals --.. 2-22. ce0e ee ee eee cece eceeceee = 149 Yellowstone National Park, petrified wood from........-..----2 +224 secs eeeeee 58 Womme, Lis 1s 18) SoG S666 GEO SERB OE BAGO BESe OED EOOIE See 2505 GSN ECOAOEa Soocs eee 256 Young, G. V., sends a fossil.....----.--.------------ ponua HoGebooataacoded os06 50 Younglove, John E., sends enamel bead for examination ...........---..-.-- : 48 Yucatan, stone hatchets from ....2..--- <2... sccecs cece nc cece cwcess esse eee 68 WMulkouphiver, cradle from... 25.0262 52 scekevaccce eens ule Saye Saisie weseeate 167 SHO JeUs SoS aSeiobice Gans OBB OOe SNES Sen O OEE SEHE OCCA ABE ASA SSC. 258 snow-shoes ....-.-.----..- Saat OO NS OBR Zee etiane SLR Rs see eh 258 Yuma Indians, ethnological objects from the.......--..----- ---- eee eee cence Sc 68 Eat TOT ie SED ote Se aa Ok iE Mla eas Ee Denn a see a NLT =| 305 Zeledon, José C., presents a metate from Costa Rica.......--..- cece ence ccceee 84 birds from Costa Hict ..-.-. --..---0-eeecee soe soos 99 sends specimens from Costa Rica..-....-...--c0. cee eee cocee 2 45 Zeller, Fred., contributes a specimen of Quiscalus eneus...-- seemacnatce a cee eles 99 Zoological Gardens, Cincinnati, bison herd in.... 2. 22.2. wenn ween oe cece ee one se 462 Museum at Christiania presents birds from Japan .............---- 99 of St. Petersburg sends fishes ...... -dabosoor coon doeccsose 107 Society of Philadelphia, bison herd of ......--..-..-.c0-cscceeceeee 461 continued co-operation of ...........---.- 137 contributions received from ...........--- 17, 22 presents a Great kingfisher from Australia. 54 [WHEE CE SAS oSsanoobdecedocecocec] ie) MAMMN gS eee eerie 89, 90 ‘i sends a monkey from South America...... 45 Zoology, review of work in division of... .... .. 2200 ence sone cence - cece cccee : 17 YO CRIA UTOLCOLE Saeed & Beco GUO BOO OOBSOG BOSC CDECOG DEHOOOEICOO OoeESSOneCS a eae aac yoRME OS oS ooceod beanod dee cadoccah coor boosostsoooseeer seeks 191 CHAGRIN) Oo SHe Sood chouEd adbOoeondu SonGoo0s Beoncace doeciscsoossssa- 193 INOGIEyN, OER ISISTTPH OS sa Gogccooceo BHObCO BoICOO BUCO EES memcOo CeO a goucnc soc 272 Indians, ethnological collection from the.. ..-.. 1-22. -- see eee oe oe ~ 60, 67, 68 woman supporting a jar of water... 20-220 ween ence cece cencce cece Sota) eri Kon Ne a A uh Mp h iin en Raith ia on MEL ee slay Tin te aa EN Hy i itt eh a Oh WIN) Whe Bn ae Cobo ig ok i m4 ae Ute Ciel y Te Sayeeda OB be, ar hh eg RY, he i MMA ME ere Ate Hyity y Pilar Mind? Oe ah at Nn ti Ny A hy be OL vrOd € init nee eT Terres VY eres ae ete sere en ert or Aart Sha ry