New-York tribune., 1907-12-15
ON THE TUG TOWING
THE TARGETS.
Watching fer signals from
the fort.

neG; examples and make exhaustive studies Of
these to stand as types for all But this meant
the devotion OF the life Of particular student
to each tribe, for it is the work Of a lifetime to
learn a language and master all that pertains to
the history. the traditions, the institutions and
the life of a tribe.
For the more practical requirements Of the
government studies were made OF the location.
number and condition Of the tribes. their rela-
ton to one another and the whites. cially
as represented by wars. treaties and cessions of
land that lost them continent. Other studies
were undertaken with the Wow Of aiding in the
trca tinsnt OF the tribes and in adjusting them
TO the conditions imposed by civilization. These
include their social organizations religious be-
icfs modes of life, occupations, resources. phys
icaI ana mental characters and their clracity
for education. Attention has been given also to
their physiology. medical practices. sanitation
and other matters relating TO their material
welfare,
Another important branch OF the labors of the
bureau is the examination Of the antiquities OF
the country, the collection of relics. the map
ping and description Of the ancient mounds
cliff dwellings, pueblos and other monuments
and under the law recently passed for the pres
CREATION of these monuments, the uncoVerlng,
ropair and restoration of the important ruins Ill
order that they may be preserved to the pubic
all time The recent operations 'L III
Fewkes among the Casa Grande ruins of Ar-
Zona is a good example of this work, Il ruined
town of great interest having been brought 10
light and made available to students. tourists
and the people generally In order to assist the
government departments having custody OF the
rubc domain in preserving the antiquities, the
work of compiling a descriptive catalogue of the
sites has been undertaken, and several bulletins
relating to this work have already been pub
lished.
1t happens that at present the majority of the
me,nr ars of the bureaus staff are in Washing
ton working up their field operations and pre-
pairing the results for publication. The re-
searches of the last summer extended to tribes
and antiquities in Alaska, British Columbia,
Ontario California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
Oklahoma Minnesota, Louisiana and Florida
A large part of the force has been engaged in
preparing articles for the Handbook Of the
Indians" which is review or summary of all
that has been far collected concerning the
tribes This work is regarded as preliminary TO
q series of handbOoks treating of several i'm
portant subdivisions of the subject in greater
detail some of these being already far advanced
toward completion. These handbOOkS relate to
the history of the tribes, to the languages to
the arts and industries, to social and govern
mental institutions to the religious, to the folk
lore to the physical and mental characteristics,
to the sign languages, land cessions. archH-
olopv etc The Handbook of Languages is
now nearly ready for the press, and several
others are well advanced. Meantime. the field
Investigations going on in various directions.
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