34 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923. 



These represent phases of native art which are fast becoming extinct 

 and are worthy additions to tlie national collections. 



A collection of ivory carvings, bronze statuettes, and textiles, the 

 work of native Burmese artists, was received as a loan from Law- 

 rence P. Briggs, former American consul at Saigon, French Indo- 

 China. The specimens, though the work of modern native artists, 

 show that the Burmese racial talent has not deteriorated. 



One of the most remarkable stone carvings ever received by the 

 division is a figure 36 cm. high, of sandstone blackened except on 

 face and parts of the body, presented by W. H. Shir-Cliff, Washing- 

 ton, D. C. The specimen is from the Makah Indians of Neah 

 Bay, Wash. It represents a woman, illustrating some myth of these 

 Indians, and reveals an unexpected power to depict expression 

 possessed by the Makah artist. 



Specimens from the natives of Formosa and new to the Museum 

 were purchased. They comprise swords, shield, spear, wooden 

 dishes, boat model, hats, and costumes with complicated textile 

 designs. 



A noteworthy Chinese harvest bell of the K'ang-hsi period, of 

 gilt bronze, was received as a gift from Mrs. John Van Rensselaer 

 Hoff. 



Among the more important collections in American archeology' 

 the following are noted : A collection of 51 earthenware vessels and 

 other antiquities from a pit house in Chaco Canyon, northwestern 

 New Mexico, presented by the National Geographic Society, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Next in importance is a series of 73 archeological 

 specimens from Peru and Chile, South America, presented by D. S. 

 Bullock of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

 D. C. ; 2 earthenware incense burners from the territory of Quintana 

 Roo, Yucatan, Mexico, were transferred by the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology; a stone collar of superior workmanship from Porto 

 Rico was also received as a transfer from the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology; a series of 186 archeological specimens from Haiti, in- 

 cluding stone celts and axes, together wath a number of potsherds, 

 were donated by Celestino Bencomo, Charge d'Affaires of Cuba; 

 Miss Helen Roberts, New York City, presented 20 specimens from 

 cliff dwellings in the Canyon de Chelly, Ariz. ; and Arthur P. Rice 

 presented to the national collections 5 small copper bells found at 

 Nicte Ha, near Chichen Itza, Yucatan. Major Davis Bowles Wills, 

 IT. S. Army, presented 5 terra-cotta heads and a pottery whistle 

 from Vera Cruz, Mexico ; a stone pipe from Kentucky, with incised 

 decorations, was received through purchase. 



Old World archeology reports the receipt as a gift from Mortimer 

 Clarke, jr., of casts of the busts of Amenophis IV, or Akhnaton, 



