18 KEPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 



presented, in 1842, by Mr. Glidclon, the Egyptologist, to the national 

 collection now in charge of the Smithsonian Institution, but at that time 

 in the United States Patent Office. It consists of a part of the lid of 

 a mummy case procured at Sacara from an Arab. It does not bear any 

 inscription by which its date can be determined, but it is supposed by Dr. 

 Pickering to belong to a very early period, and to be among the oldest — 

 if not the very oldest — of specimens of hieroglyphic writing known. 

 The earliest writing, of ascertained date, was executed in the third dy- 

 nasty from 3110 to 3080, B. C. ; but, according to Dr. Pickering, the 

 writings on the mummy case in the Institution are of a style different 

 from, and clearly anterior to, that executed in the third dynasty. To- 

 ward the beginning of this era, on the authority of Manctho, writing 

 was improved, and as all improvements of this kind have tended in the 

 direction of an increased facility, this mummy case at least seems to 

 have preceded such a change. The lid was divided by Mr. Gliddon into 

 three parts ; the first part is the one just described, the second was pre- 

 sented to the Naval Lyceum of Brooklyn, the third to Mrs. Ward, of 

 Kew York, Diligent though unsuccessful inquiry has been made for the 

 missing parts, in order to have them also figured and described ; and 

 now, through this report, attention is again called to the subject, with 

 the hope that if the other portions of the lid are still in existence, in- 

 formation of the fact may be communicated to the Institution. The 

 part of the lid above described is represented on a large plate which 

 presents a fac-simile of the figures as to size and color. 



The second undescribed paper is that on the Indians of Cape Flattery, 

 which, there is no doubt, will be considered an interesting contriliution 

 to ethnology. It was prepared, at the request of the Institution, by Mr. 

 James G. Swan, an agent of the United States government, who had 

 long resided with the tribe of which he has given an account. This 

 tribe occui)ies the extreme northwestern part of Wasliiugton Territory, 

 opposite Vancouver's Island, from which it is separated by the Strait of 

 Fuca. The paper contains a full account of the manners and customs 

 of these Indians, and a description of their implements, utensils, cloth- 

 ing, modes of travel, fashion of constructing houses, &c. It also gives 

 a minute account of the festivals and ceremonies of these Indians, and 

 of the various myths with which these are connected. Among other 

 singular superstitions is that of the resurrection, as it were, of the flesh 

 of the body but not of the bones, which are left in the graves : that 

 the spirit world is in the center of the earth, where the inhabitants are 

 somewhat incommoded by the want of the osseous part of their bodies. 

 The memoir is illustrated by a large number of woodcuts, most of them 

 copied from specimens now in the museum of the Institution. In the 

 absence of the author of the work it was edited by George Gibbs, esq., 

 who has added occasional notes, and also a vocabulary of the Makah 

 tribe, furnished by Mr. Swan. 



The third memoir to be described is the rei)ort of Dr. B. A. Gould on 



