environment, remaining as a result backward in education and in other respects. He reports as follows on the results of his studies: The work commenced at Bristol, Tenn., extended to Mountain City, and farther on into the hills; and its success was very largely due to the kind offices and direct personal help of an old friend of the Smithsonian Institution, Mr. Samuel L. King, of Bristol. For additional help the writer is indebted to Mr. John Caldwell, of the same city. The work extended mainly to the men called for examination by the first draft for the United States Army, and comprised 150 individuals. Both measurements and observations were taken. Some of the men came from the lower lands of the Bristol district and were kept apart, but a good number represented the real mountaineers. It is too early to speak of the results of this interesting piece of research, the data not having as yet been properly reduced and analyzed; but it is safe to say that these mountaineers represent no separate type of Americans. In many cases they still show strong indications of their respective pre-American ancestry. Among the men there were seen some fine examples of physique—willowy, clean-cut six-footers; but there were also others of rather feeble mental powers or nervous stability, which conditions, to some extent possibly, are due to hereditary effects of alcoholism or to defective heredity of other nature. The families of the mountaineers are remarkable in many cases for their large size, and there were seen examples of longevity and virility which it would be hard to find in our cities. There are all grades of "mountaineers" and no line of demarcation separates them from the people in the lower lands, who are mostly of similar derivation and sometimes of the same families. But as one proceeds into the wilds of the mountains the population becomes sparser and more backward, the cultivated patches of ground smaller in area, and the habitations poorer, until some of the latter come to resemble the shacks of the southern negro. The poorer class of mountaineers frequently show characteristics partly due to their backwardness in education and their isolation and partly, perhaps, to hookworm disease or other abnormal conditions. Some of the young men are types of slouchiness, such as would delight the artist, while the women disfigure themselves by chewing snuff and frequently show uncouthness in dress, movements, and behavior. But the people are hospitable and interesting. In the course of a short ride of less than 2 miles through a sparsely settled gorge the writer and his local companion had no less than four invitations to lunch-in the other places there was no one at home. Their language and intonation are characteristic and quaint, and the people seem to be full of old and local folklore, the study of which would probably prove most delightful. Being largely dependent on themselves and their few neighbors, they have also many antiquated and strange curative practices which would repay investigation. Their worst enemies are the isolation, "moonshine" whisky, and, in not a few cases, undoubtedly a poor heredity. The Army draft will be a godsend to many of the young men, some of whom can not even read or write; but probably few of those who will return will remain mountaineers. THE VANISHING INDIAN. Through the cooperation of the Institution and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Hrdlička in August, 1917, made some interesting investigations of the Shawnee and other Indian tribes. Concerning his work he says: The progress of miscegenation among many of the Indian tribes has progressed to a degree that is surprising even to those who for many years have been studying the Indian. While the total number of "Indians" as recorded by the census increases from decade to decade, the fact is that this increase is due wholly to that of mixed bloods; the full bloods of pure strain in most localities are rapidly disappearing and in a considerable proportion of the tribes have become actually extinct or are on the point of extinction. Two remarkable examples of this fact have just been experienced by the writer. For years a growing necessity in American anthropology has been to determine the physical type of the Shawnee, once a large tribe and one of considerable historic importance. No great difficulty was apprehended in this task, as the tribe is still well represented. The most promising part of the tribe was that of the so-called "absentee" Shawnee, on the Shawnee Agency in eastern Oklahoma. They count 569 individuals, quite a few of whom are generally regarded as "full bloods." To his great disappointment the task of finding some pure bloods became exceedingly difficult. Quite a few of the Indians were found to be "full bloods," but on inquiry into the family history it was generally learned that the subject was a mixture of Shawnee with the Oneida, Delaware, Creeks, or some other tribe. In conclusion, there were found but three individuals who so far as they or their friends knew were full-blood Shawnee. Two of these were old women and one an old man, all near or over 70 years of age, and two of the three were sister and brother. The next tribe visited was the Kickapoo, the main body of which to the number of 211 is settled about McLoud, Okla. They were said by the old Shawnee to be practically the same people as themselves, having at some time in the past had but one camp fire, and it was generally believed that they would show some full bloods of pure strain. This proved to be a vain hope. On close inquiry all sorts of mixtures were discovered, even among the oldest men and women of the tribe, but no pure bloods. Only one single woman of middle age was believed to be possibly a full Kickapoo, but there was no real certainty. Some visiting Kickapoo from Mexico proved no better than the rest, and no hope was given that any pure strain Kickapoo could be found anywhere else. Thus two tribes, one of which of considerable importance, may be regarded as lost to science, so far as pure bloods are concerned. Only a few years ago, according to local information, there were still a number of old men and women living in both tribes who represented the pure strain. The genuine Indian is rapidly passing away and the work of the anthropologist who endeavors to record the physical type of the various tribes is becoming increasingly difficult. ETHNOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN COLORADO AND UTAH. One of the most important results of field work by the Bureau of American Ethnology during the past year was the investigation of little-known towers, castles, and great houses in southwest Colorado. In conjunction with the Department of the Interior, the Smithsonian Institution has been engaged for a decade in the excavation and repair of large ruins situated on what is called the Mesa Verde National Park. The educational value of this work can hardly be overestimated, and in recent years over 2,500 people have visited the locality yearly to see these largest of all prehistoric ruins in our South western States. In his field work during the summer of 1918 Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, investigated equally instructive groups of ruins in the valleys in sight of the Mesa Verde Park and found there many well-preserved buildings of which little has been hitherto known; the most striking of these were finely constructed towers, castles, and great houses, the walls of which have fine masonry, rising in some instances 25 feet high. They may be instanced as the best-preserved examples of Indian stone houses north of Mexico. Three clusters of these remarkable constructions in southwestern Utah are specially noteworthy, containing in all 11 different buildings, the majority of which are still, after centuries of wear, in nearly the same condition as when deserted by the aboriginal builders. Many evidences of their prehistoric character were gathered. The name of the race to which their builders belonged is no longer known, but the memory of them still survives in dim legends of descendants living many miles away. A visit to these towers well supplements one to the Mesa Verde, and broadens one's knowledge of the variety of buildings which stood in the desert during the most flourishing epoch of North American architecture of the past. As a sequel to the explorations carried on by the Smithsonian in these remarkable monuments, the Director of the Public Park Service of the Department of the Interior, recognizing their educational value for scholars and tourists, has taken steps to have them set aside from the public domain and placed under the care of the Superintendent of the Mesa Verde Park for permanent preservation. NATIONAL PARKS EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE. On June 26, 1918, at a meeting held at the Smithsonian Institution there was organized the National Parks Educational Committee. Dr. Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was chosen chairman, former Representative William Kent, of California, vice chairman, Henry B. F. Macfarland, of Washington, chairman of the executive committee, and Robert Sterling Yard, secretary. The membership includes representatives of universities, institutions, and public-spirited associations East and West, through whose cooperation it will present a front of many influential units. The need of this organization grew out of the rapid growth of public interest in our national parks, due to the recent realization of their supreme qualities. It is a safe statement that there is no other cause so popular in America to-day that is not a war cause. The limitation of governmental functions practically to the physical development of the national parks leaves the gathering of their enormous potential harvests of education and appreciation to the 93901-18-2 people themselves; it is to organize these departments of higher enjoyment, to give impetus to the art and literature of outdoors, to popularize natural science, and to encourage outdoor living that the committee is established. The committee will support a plan of systematic selection and development to secure for American national parks the recognized first place in world scenery, thus realizing their value as a national economic asset. Its educatioal plans are based upon views of national parks as popular classrooms and museums of nature. It will seek the cooperation of public schools and universities in the interpretation of natural scenery in terms of popular science. Among its first acts was the passage of a resolution, offered by Leonidas Dennis, of New Jersey, favoring the bill which has passed the Senate and is now before the House to make the Grand Canyon a national park. The committee will enlarge itself so as to become representative of every section and State in the country. It is the initial stage in a broad national organization to be perfected after the war under the title of the National Parks Association. The members at present are as follows: Wallace W. Atwood, department of physiography, Harvard University. Belmore Browne, explorer, author, artist. Henry G. Bryant, president Geographical Society of Philadelphia, explorer. John B. Burnham, president American Game Protective and Propagation Association. William E. Colby, president Sierra Club. Leonidas Dennis, conservationist, lawyer. J. Walter Fewkes, chief Bureau of American Ethnology. John H. Finley, president University of State of New York. William B. Greeley, chairman conservation committee Camp-Fire Club. George Bird Grinnell, Boone and Crockett Club, pioneer of Glacier National Park. William H. Holmes, curator of National Academy of Art, head curator anthropology, United States National Museum. William Kent, former United States Representative, donor of the Muir Woods National Museum. George F. Kunz, president of American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. E. M. Lehnerts, department of geology, University of Minnesota; pioneer in national parks geology classes. Henry B. F. Macfarland, publicist; lawyer. J. Horace McFarland, president American Civic Association. La Verne Noyes, president board of trustees, Chicago Academy of Science. George D. Pratt, conservation commissioner, State of New York; president Camp Fire Club. D. W. Roper, director Prairie Club; engineer. Edmund Seymour, president American Bison Society. Charles Sheldon, Boone and Crockett Club; explorer, author. Mrs. John Dickinson Sherman, conservation chairman, General Federation of Women's Clubs. Charles D. Walcott, secretary Smithsonian Institution. Robert Sterling Yard, Chief Educational Division, National Park Service. PUBLICATIONS. The Institution and its branches published during the year 91 volumes and separate pamphlets. The total distribution was 134,284 copies, which included 1,591 volumes and memoirs of Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 26,412 volumes and separates of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 19,815 Annual Reports and separate papers, 75,300 volumes and pamphlets of Museum Proceedings, 7,344 Bureau of American Ethnology publications, 2,929 special publications, and others relating to the Astrophysical Observatory, the Harriman Alaska Expedition, and the American Historical Association. War conditions naturally greatly delayed the issuance of publications by the Government Printing Office, so that there is a large accumulation of material in proof and manuscript awaiting completion. Allotments for printing.-The allotments for the printing of the Smithsonian Report and the various publications of the branches of the Institution were practically used up, a small balance remaining in one or two cases owing to the impossibility of getting certain publications off the press before the close of the year. $10,000 The allotments for the year ending June 30, 1919, are as follows: For the Smithsonian Institution: For printing and binding the annual reports of the Board of Regents, with general appendices, the editions of which shall not exceed 10,000 copies____ For the annual reports of the National Museum, with general appendices, and for printing labels and blanks, and for the bulletins and proceedings of the National Museum, the editions of which shall not exceed 4,000 copies, and binding, in half morocco or material not more expensive, scientific books, and pamphlets presented to or acquired by the National Museum library_. 37,500 For the annual reports and bulletins of the Bureau of American Ethnology and for miscellaneous printing and binding for the bureau 21,000 For miscellaneous printing and binding: Total_ For the annual report of the American Historical Association__. Committee on printing and publication.-The Smithsonian advisory committee on printing and publication considers all manu 7,000 76, 200 |