The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1897-04-01

third VIII explore thc nOrtneasuerly part OF
the Asiatic coast line. 1t is estimated that
the work will consume the greater part of
six years and will cost about 10000 but
Mr.. Jesup is to bear the whole expense,
and he says the Investigations will not be
stopped until a convincing amount of ma.
terial on every doubtful point has been oh.
tained.
Each expedition will be under the lead
ership of a man prominent in the special
branches of science in the interests OF
which the work is being done. The work
will be under the direction of Professor
Frederick w. Putnam, who had charge OF
the anthropological division Of the Worlds
fair, and who for years conducted the Pea
body Museum of American Ethnology
connected with Harvard university. He
will have as first lieutenant DIR. Franz
Boas, assistant curator of the anthropolog-
ical department Of the American Museum
of Natural History. DIR. Boas Is great
traveller and has done important work
among the Eskimos and the tribes on the
northwest coast of America. Both these
men will be assisted by an able corps OF
trained men.
Professor Putnam has already mapped
out his plan of campaign, and he knows
exactly how he is going to set about trac-
ing the footsteps of prehistoric man from
Asia to America. The shell mounds Of
Alaska and British Columbia will be ex.
plored for human skeletons, and ancient
burial grounds on both sides Of Bering sea
will be investigated. The skulls thus
found are to be carefully compared. The
| living people who inhabit the shores Of
both continents are to be studied and rec.
ords made of their measurements the color
of their skin, hair and eyes.
How vast a task this will be may be
conceived when 1t Is realized that the peo.
pie inhabting the regions to be investi.
gated use no less than so distinct Ian.
guages or dialects, and that no one tribe
understands the dialect Of another. While
almost the whole of Siberia is peopled by
tribes akin in language and similar in
type, the eastern coast is occupied by races
who speak ten different dialects which are
mutually unintclligible. About these peo'
pie anthropologists know very little. They
may have characteristics which will fur
nisb an immediate clew to the tracing OF
the red mans ancestors. Their mythology
is practically unknown.
On the American coast there is even
greater diversity. Between the Columbie
river and Bering strait it Is said that ten
languages are spoken which are funda
mentally distinct, and these languages are
in turn split up into 81 dialects, each OF
which is used by a separate tribe The
knowledge which scientists possess of the
whole country is rather hazy, as no sys
tematic study has ever been made of more
than one or two settlements of natives
What Professor Putnam and his assist
ants must do In order TO pursue theil
studies and Investigations Is TO strike bold
ly in among these strange, savage tribes
live among them and learn their languages
their customs and their folklore. They
must gain the confidence of the natives Sc
fully that they will be allowed to sit by
the campfres while the old men tell stories
and watch their religious ceremonials
That there will be danger as well as hard
ship connected with this sort of research
tan easily be anticipated,
"The whole field is vast one, " said DIR
Boas in q recent interview, land 1t Is to b.
expected that the enterprise inauguratet
by Mr. Jesup viii lead to results whicl
will clear up many points regarding TIN
early history OF tho American race. "
Besides the great number of facts to b
gathered an immense collection of object
of anthropological interest from fshhook
to skeletons and from totem poles to kay
! axis, will be made. These are TO be turneC
over to the American Museum of Natura
0 History, which has recently been enlarget
! by the addition of a new wing in eSpecta
tion Of this very accession to its alread,
| AVnuE NINnNgU