departed, and their fear that knowledge which may be communicated may
be used to the injury of those whom they have loved, or of themselves,
lead them to excessive reticence on these subjects. Their feelings
should not be rudely wounded. The better and more thoughtful members
of the tribe will at last converse freely on these subjects with those
in whom they have learned to place confidence. The stories of ignorant
white men and camp attaches should be wholly discarded, and all
accounts should be composed of things actually observed, and of
relations made by Indians of probity.

This preliminary volume by Dr. H. C Yarrow has been the subject of
careful research and of much observation, and will serve in many ways
as a hint to the student. The literature of the subject is vast, but
to a large extent worthless, from the fact that writers have been
hasty travelers or subjective speculators on the matter. It is strange
how much of accepted history must be rejected when the statements are
carefully criticised and compared with known facts. It has frequently
been stated of this or that tribe that mutilations, as the cutting off
of fingers and toes, of ears and nose, the pulling out of teeth, &c.,
are extensively practiced as a mode of mourning find wild scenes of
maiming and bloodshed are depicted as following upon the death of a
beloved chief or great man yet among these tribes maimed persons are
rarely found It is probable that there is some basis of fact for the
statement that mutilations are in rare instances practiced among some
tribes. But even this qualified statement needs absolute proof.

I am pleased to assure those who will take part in this work by
earnest and faithful research that Dr Yarrow will treat them
generously by giving them full credit for their work in his final
publication.