CHAPTER IV.

DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOLOGY.

Anthropology: "Man and His Works" — What May be Seen at the Ethnological Building — The Mound
Builders of Ohio — Splendid Collection from Mexico, Costa Rica and New South Wales — Views
of Plans and Models of Prehistoric Men — Prehistoric Architectural Monuments and Habitations —
Natural and Artificial Cave Dwellings — Lacustrine Dwellings — Sweat Houses, Totem Posts, Cliff
Dwellings and Skin Lodges — Implements of War and the Chase — Furniture and Clothing of
Aboriginal, Uncivilized and Partly Civilized Races — Objects of Spiritual Significance and Vener-
ation— Representation of Deities — Appliances of Worship— Historic Archxology — Objects Illus-
trating the Progress of Nations — Models and Representations of Ancient Vessels — Clothing and
Adornment — Apparatus for Making Clothing and Ornaments — Articles Used in Cooking and
Eating — Models and Representation of Ancient Buildings — Cities and Monuments of the Historic
Period Anterior to the Discovery of America — Objects Illustrating Generally the Progress of the
Amelioration of the Conditions of Life and Labor — The Evolution of Labor-Saving Machines and
Implements — Portraits, Busts and Statues of Great Inventors and Others who have Contributed
Largely to the Progress of Civilization and the Well-being of Man — Eulalia Entertained bv the
Quackahl Indians — Sketch of Professor Putnam.

HERE is a certain structure that is not so often visited as
many of the others; and yet it is one whose contents chal-
lenge the admiration of students of antiques and others of
scholarly^attainments. Over the portal of this building are
the words "Anthropology — Man and his Works," which
means that much which is ethnological end anthropological
may be seen within. This building is 415 feet long and 225
feet wide, and besides the general archaeological and ethno-
logical exhibits contains the exhibits of the Bureau of Char-
ities and Corrections and that of the Bureau of Hygiene and

Sanitation. Professor Putnam is at the head of this depart-

ment.'~~He is professor of American archaeology and ethnology at Harvard univer-
sity, and is a famous scientist.

The Ethnological Building is the result of an overcrowding of the Manu-
factures and Liberal Arts Building. That mammoth structure, which many have
pronounced too large, is exactly the one of all the others that was found too small.
Consequently, at the eleventh hour it was decided that ethnology must go. A new
building was planned, but not for ethnology alone. The sections on charities and
corrections and the section on hygiene and sanitation of the Department of Liberal
Arts were sent along with it. But the uses of the new building were still further
enlarged until there were housed in it archaeology, natural history and geology as
well.

256 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR,

As one enters the building by the middle entrance at the north end he sees
private collectionsof contemporaneous Indian implements, arms, dress and household
articles, one collection being nearly like another, at least to casual observers. What
strikes the attention first and excites the greatest interest is the model of the Indian
village of Skedegats, on Queen Charlotte's Island, in British Columbia. This collec-
tion was secured by Chief Putnam, and is in charge of James Deans, an aged Scotch-
man, for thirty years a resident of the islands. The village consists of a row of
cottages, standing on an exhibition platform three feet high and about fifty feet
long, with a screen behind it, on which is painted a panoramic view of the country.

These cottage models are about two feet square and high and decorated in
front with the curiously and hideously carved and painted totem poles peculiar to
the Heidah tribe. Mr. Deans, who, though an uneducated man, is an adept in this
Indian lore, says that the Heidah habitations have been like this from prehistoric
times. They appear to be built of plank, but are, in fact, constructed of river slabs.
One peculiarity of the ornamentation is the frightful carvings of dragon heads pro-
truding from the eaves; and as if to confound the anthropologist it is said that they
are almost the counterpart of similar ornaments on some of the houses of the Jap-
anese.

Farther on, and to the right, the visitor steps into the inclosure of New South
Wales exhibit, for which great praise is given Executive Commissioner Renwick,
by whose exertions it was collected. It is necessary to see the collection, however,
in order to fully enjoy or understand it. The exhibits relate not only to New South
Wales, but to Australia, the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea,
New Britain and Marquis Island. They consist in part of an immense display of
enlarged photographs, illustrating the appearance and manners and customs of the
aborigines, and in part of an almost endless assortment of their weapons of war-
fare and of the chase, the garments, rude manufactures and household implements.
Among them are boomerangs, spears, bow and arrows, shields, nets, stone axes,
costumes, fans and shell money. A person with the slighest interest in these races
would be entertained here for hours.

Farther down one .comes to the space assigned to Prof. Culin for his folk-
lore exhibit. Under this head comes primitive religions, customs and games,
though in fact the display is confined to primitive games. These are shown in hor-
izontal showcases stretching entirely across the building. To make the collection
Prof. Culin has ransacked every country on the globe and every age of the world
back to prehistoric times. Singular to relate, while he has dice that were used for
gambling at least as early as 500 B. C. he has never been able to collect a set of the
cards with which twenty-five years ago the people of this country played the game
of Dr. Busby. One of the neatest stories in his showcase is the evolution of play-
ing-cards from dice, and of dice from the knuckle-bones of a sheep.

In the middle aisle, not far from Prof. Culin's section, one may see some in-
tensely interesting material relating to the mound builders. This consists of four
raised maps, about 6x8 feet in size each, illustrating the Indian mound region of
Ohio. They are in fact minute copies, including not only topography, but trees,

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 257

grass, roads and scenery. The first relates to the famous Serpent Mound, in
Adams County, purchased by the Peabody Museum; the second to the Hopewell
group of mounds in Ross County; the third to the Turner group in Clermont
County and the fourth to Fort Hill in Highland County. One look at these beau-
tiful maps shows that no pictures have ever done this subject justice.

Just east of these maps is appropriately displayed an immense collection of
relics of the mound builders, secured under the direction of Chief Putnam, by W.
K. Moorehead of Xenia, O., who is also now in charge of it. A small portion of
this collection was taken from mounds and graves at Fort Ancient in Warren
County, and the remainder from one of the twenty-three mounds in the Hopewell
group in Ross County. This mound is th'e second largest in the State, and yielded
an immense quantity of archaeological material, some of which resembles other
relics from similar sources, and some of which possesses striking peculiarities.

Among these are pecks of pearls perforated as if for necklaces. Some of
these are in good condition and others are partly calcined by fire. The damaged
specimens were found on hollow altars of burned clay that were possibly used as
crematories for the dead. There were also found large quantities of sharks' teeth
and sea shells. That these three articles should be found so far from the sea and
in such large quantities is considered rather strange, especially as they are not old
enough to be connected with geologic changes.

There were also found in this mound and these clay altars bushels of copper
implements and ornaments bearing evidence of being hammered out cold. The
metal is greatly oxydized, and though a little hardened by the hammering, is devoid
of temper. Most of the ornaments are stencil-like, and have been cut out of sheet
copper. Some are in the form of easily recognized species of fish, and some,
strange to say, in the form of the Swassticka cross, which is also found among
ancient human relics in France and other parts of Europe.

Mr. Moorhead exhumed 298 skeletons or parts of skeletons, but only two
that were complete. One of these was found in a Warren County mound and one
in a grave, and the skulls are so different that they are believed to belong to two
different races of men. The stone grave in which one was found was brought with
it, and is a thrilling and unique relic of this mysterious people. As to the age of
these relics Mr. Moorhead says that all that is certain is that they are over 400
years old. This much is proved by the remains of two separate forests found over
them, each of these forests, according to botanists, representing a period of 200
years.

A little farther to the south is the inclosure of the Mexican exhibit. It would
make a long chapter to bestow a passingword on every object of interest connected
with ancient Mexico and its inhabitants here exhibited. But the chief among them
are four " archaeological reconstructions of the city of Mexico," from five to ten feet
square. The first and largest represents the Temple of Huitzilopochtli, which
stood on a spot now fully identified and oh which the ancient inhabitants offered
human sacrifices. The principal stone on which the victims were laid is still pre-
served in the Mexican National Museum.

258 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

The second reproduction represents with thrilling minuteness the triumphal
entrance of Cortes into the city. Even the troops on each side and Cortes himself,
as well as the buildings of the city, are distinctly seen. The third reproduction
represents the capture of Cuauhtemoc, at what is now called the Clergyman's
Bridge, by which the deathblow was given to the Empire of the Tenochas. The
fourth reproduction represents Cortes receiving his prisoner Cuauhtemoc, who in.
tears implored the conqueror to take his poniard and slay him. The Mexican
Commissioner has prepared an interesting descriptive catalogue in Spanish and
English of this part of the exhibit.

The Costa Rica exhibit adjoins the Mexican inclosure on the east. The
Commissioner, Anastasio Alfaro, says that Costa Rica sent 7,000 pieces to Madrid
and sends only 3,000 to Chicago. He thinks the display at Madrid was five times
as large as this one. He had many large idols, altars, and ornamental stones which
he did not dare to bring to this city, but sent back to Costa Rica, simply because
there was no room to display them.

On the other hand, the 3,000 pieces in the present exhibit are all original and
real, and there is not a reproduction among them. They consist almost entirely of
pottery, but there are also some singular carved stones, presumably ornamental.
One is like a center table, 3 feet high, and though made of flint-like stone is hol-
lowed and carved like a Chinese puzzle. What instruments were used in such
work is unknown, as the only metals found are gold and copper. These are in the
shape of jewelry. There are some photographs of the material sent back from
Madrid to Costa Rica.

With all of these treasures of science on the main floor of the building it will-
still be considered by many learned visitors that the greatest attractions are in the
gallery. The south gallery from wall to wall, is entirely taken up with the im-
mense and indescribably fine exhibit of Ward's Natural Science establishment of
Rochester, N. Y. This wonderful collection covers, and covers well, the entire-
fields of geology, paleontology, and natural history. Here are all the fossils, from
the ingneous rocks up; stuffed specimens of all animal life, from the bacillus up to-
the great Elephas Primigenus, i6}4 feet high, and all skeletons from that of a
humming bird up to that of a whale. The gallery looks like an epitome of the
universe.

Any student of paleontology, geology, or natural history who has any diffi-
culties to solve, and who can make his way to Chicago, now enjoys the opportunities
of a lifetime. It is safe to say that he will make greater progress in his studies-
with this immense museum before him in one week than he would in a lifetime
deprived of such advantages. It will be a comfort to students, whether they can
visit the college here or not, to know that there is a strong probability that it may
become the property of the University of Chicago. It is valued at $150,000.

The galleries, however, contain many attractive exhibits besides the Ward
collection. In the west gallery are Boehm's collection of birds, the Maine exhibit
of stuffed mammals, a singular collection of Ohio antiquities relating more par-
ticularly to the region of Marietta, and Chittenden's collection of North American.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

259

prehistoric Indian and Esquimau relics. In the east gallery are the fine natural
history collection of the Albany, N. Y. Museum, Lattin's unique exhibit of stuffed
birds framed and covered with convex glass, and the singularly beautiful collection

of the birds and mammals
of Pennsylvania, stuffed
and arranged in an arti-
ficial forest. Returning
to the lower floor the vis-
itor may see many won-
ders which do not belong
to the department of Eth-
nology nor any of its re-
lated departments. The
southwest corner of the
floor is occupied with the
noble exhibits of the sec-
tion of Charities and Cor-
rections of the Liberal
Arts Department. Here
are illustrated by a hun-
dred of the penal and
charitable institutions of
the country the most ad-
vanced and humane
thought of the age con-
cerning the insane, the
deaf and dumb, the blind,
and the criminal. From
the wonderful appliances
of the John Hopkins Hos-
pital to the oaken chair of
the Auburn Penitentiary,
in which Kemmler was
electrocuted, everybody
speaks of a growing gen-
tleness and goodness in
human nature. It was
probably only accidental
that these symbols of

mercy and benevolence were placed so close to the Mexican altar on which human
victims were butchered with flint knives 306 years ago. The following is the in-
scription over the exhibit of the Battle Creek Sanitarium:

" This institution was founded in the year 1866 by an association of philan-
thropical persons whose purpose was the establishment of a self-supporting charU

17

CHIEF WANNOCK.

260 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

table institution at which both rich and poor might receive the benefit of all the
curative resources afforded by the modern science of rational medicine. More
than 50,000 patients have received treatment at this institution, nearly one-fourth
of whom have been the recipients of its charity. The institution is under the
supervision of a Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, which operates
and supports several lines of medical missionary work in Chicago and elsewhere;
the education and maintenance of missionary physicians in the United States and
foreign countries; a large orphanage: a home for friendless aged persons; and
several branch sanitariums and hospitals organized on the same plan."

In the southeast corner of the building is the hardly less advanced and
humane exhibit of Hygiene and Sanitation, forming another section of the Liberal
Arts Department. Here is Illustrated the latest thought of the world concerning
filters, ventilation, bathing, disinfectants, furnaces, gymnastics, and vaccination.
By far the greatest things in these lines are in the exhibits of the Paris exhibitors,
which are of themselves worth a journey to Chicago to see, study, and admire.

It may seem singular, but the greatest thing in the building, and one of the
greatest things on the grounds, is an exhibit which has been thrust into this quarter
of the room without belonging to the building at all. This is a display of anatomical
models by A. Luer of Paris. If the physicians of Chicago knew what was on
exhibition here there would be thousands of them crowded around this exhibit
every day. Every part of the human body is represented in its natural colors and
so that it can be taken apart to the last filament. Moreover, everything is on an
exaggerated scale. The model of the human hand is two feet in length and the
model of the human ear as large as a market basket.

There are also models of other kinds of life, for the study of comparative
anatomy. There is a turkey of natural size, and a beetle as big as the turkey, and
both can be dissected down to atoms. There is a hen's egg as large as a watermelon,
showing the evolution of the chick, and a model of a horse which comes apart into
140 pieces, each of which comes apart into about fifty more, the price of the whole
model being $5,000. Nothing in all Jackson Park is more wonderful, beautiful, and
profitable than this exhibit.

Among the many objects that hold the student are the views of plans and
models of prehistoric men. Prehistoric architectural monuments and habitations,
natural and artificial cave dwellings, lacustrine dwellings, sweat, houses, cliff dwell-
ings and -skin lodges, implements of war and the chase, furniture and clothing
of aboriginal, uncivilized and partly civilized races. Objects of spiritual signifi-
cance and veneration, representations of deities, appliances of worship, historic
archaeology, objects illustrating the progress of the nations. Models and represen-
tations of ancient vessels, clothing and adornment, apparatus for making clothing
and ornaments, articles used in cooking and eating, models and representations of
ancient buildings, cities and monuments of the historic period anterior the discovery
of America, objects illustrating generally the progress of the amelioration of the
condition of life and labor, the evolution of labor-saving machines and implements,

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

261

portraits, busts and statues of great inventors and others who have contributed
largely to the progress of civilization and the well-being of man.

In the immediate neighborhood of the Ethnological Building are a reproduc-
tion of some noted ruins of Yucatan, an imitation of cliff dwellings, and some rep-
resentatives from some aboriginal nations of the south west. Eulalie spent an hour
among these Indians to her great amusement. Being informed that the Quackahls
were preparing an entertainment for her, the princess seated herself in a rolling
chair that had been covered with a gaudy red Navajo blanket and waited with an
expectant face for the performance to begin. The dull thumping of a drum on the
outside told the approach of Chief Wannock and his tribe. The drummer came in
backward, and while he battered away at his queer shaped instrument, he set up a
song. He was accompanied by the other Indians as they came in. For about five
minutes the Quackahls marched in a circle, beating time with their bare feet in the
sand to the wild song. The song ceased and three or four men crowded around a
small square board and began beating a lively tattoo on it with bones. A woman
wrapped in a gaily embroidered blanket, and with her long black hair floating in
the air, began circling around in front of the princess. The drum beat louder and

Ihe rattle of the
bones on the board
quickeneduntil the
woman danced up
to the crowd and
shook a lot of fine
feathers from her
hair on the board.
Then the princess
began laughing.for
half a dozen of the
Quackahls were
rolling on the sand
in front of her and
scratching them-
selves as though
infested with 10,-
ooo fleas. She had
never seen such an
entertainment be-
fore. Frederic
Ward Putnam,

Professor of American Archaeology and Ethnology in Harvard University and
curator of the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass., was appointed in February,
1891, as chief of the Department of Ethnology of the World's Columbian
Exposition. Professor Putnam was born in Salem, Mass., and is a direct de-
scendant from John Putnam, one of the earliest settlers of Salem, thus being

ANTHROPOLOGICAL BUILDING.

262 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

connected with the best families of Old and New England. Although for many
years he has been especially devoted to archaeology as a life work, and has
:onducted many explorations in various parts of South America, he has a wide
practical knowledge of all the natural sciences, having evinced an aptness for
• his line of study very early in life. At the age of 16 he entered the Lawrence Sci-
entific School of Harvard University, and for several years was the special student
and assistant of the famous Louis Agassiz. The same year he was elected member
of the Boston Society of Natural History, and he has since held the position of
president of the society for three consecutive years. At the same time he was
elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and
for twenty-one years he has filled the position of permanent secretary of that asso-
ciation. He has held many honorable positions; has been vice-president of the Es-
sex Institute, in Salem, Mass., for many years. He was the first director of the
Peabody Academy of Science; has been president of the American Folk-lore Soci-
ety, and is now president of the Boston Association of Folk-lore. He is a fellow of
the National Academy of Science and of all the principal scientific and historical
societies of America, and of the anthropological societies of Paris, London and Brus-
sels. He has given freely of his scientific knowledge to the world; has served his
scientific knowledge to the world; has served his native State for seven years as
State Commissioner of Fisheries; and has contributed over 300 papers to scientific
literature.

To comprehend the scope of this department it is necessary to digest the
statement that therein is shown the collections from every famous museum of the
world, and that no less than seventy expeditions have scoured the earth to obtain
data for this exhibit. It is one of the most interesting features of the Fair both as
regards the curiosities and relics it contains and for the comparative object lesson
it presents. All around it are the evidences of the latest steps taken in the world's
advancement, while inside the building are the objects that show how the rude
forefathers of a thousand tribes delved, dug, and builded.

Brazil, Canada, England, France, Greece, Honduras, Mexico, Argentine
Republic, New South Wales, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Borneo, Spain, Russia,
Costa Rica, Patagonia, and many other foreign countries have largely contributed,
and many interesting tribes of living Indians are quartered near the building.
Egyptian antiquities are shown and nearly all of the States have sent collections.
It is the greatest museum ever collected and is a spot of untiring interest.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 265