Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 43.djvu/633

Rh Near the Anthropological Building are several outdoor displays of more than usual interest. The party sent out by Prof. Putnam to the ruins of Yucatan and Copan secured at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza, and Labnah "squeezes" of some doorways, corners, arches, etc., showing every detail of ornament and symbolical carving. From these molds casts have been made exactly reproducing the structures. A group of five of these lies north from the Anthropological Building. North from this is an interesting series of homes of various American Indians. The palm-thatched hut of the Arawaks of Guiana; the long house of the Iroquois, constructed of bark, and divided into six spaces within, one for each of the Six Nations; the birch-bark tent of the Penobscot Indians of Maine; the skin-covered tepee of the plains tribes; the dome-shaped framework of poles, covered with rush matting, of the Algonkins; the plank-covered houses of the Kwakiool of Vancouver Island, and the Haidah of Queen Charlotte Islands with their symbolical paintings and totem posts; these range along the edge of the lagoon on whose waters float various canoes and boats of the natives. These houses have been built from proper materials by the Indians themselves, and most of them are inhabited by families of Indians, some of whom carry on their native arts and industries. Very interesting in this connection will be the series of dances of the Kwakiools, for which Dr. Boas has arranged, which will take place at intervals through the season.

Most interesting material is found in the United States Government Building. The National Museum, through Prof. Mason, has set up a suggestive series illustrating the groups of Indian tribes. A great copy of Powell's Linguistic Map of North America upon the walls represents the groups of tribes as classified by language. In alcoves below, cases full of objects illustrate the arts and industries of these groups. It is most interesting to notice how clearly the influence of environment and the gifts of Nature is shown in the arts and industries. Tribes speaking languages of one stock may show marked diversity in arts if living in unlike surroundings, while tribes widely differing in language may show industrial unity if subjected to similar environments. Very interesting to the crowd are the cases wherein are displayed life-size figures dressed in costumes. Some of these are particularly pleasing: the Xivaro, with his feather belt and crown; the Chippewa blanket painter; two plains Indian women dressing a buffalo hide—one kneeling before a hide hung upon poles scrapes it, while the other pounds a second hide with a stone maul; a Moki man drilling a turquoise bead with a pump-drill; a Sioux squaw and children on a pony dragging the travois; a Mojave man with apron of bark strips, head feathers, and a shell