REPORT OF THE SECEETAEY. 41 



and the disposition of the articles intended for public exhibition has 

 been a subject requiring considerable thought and experiment. It was 

 not only desirable to obtain the largest amount of space for the accom- 

 modation of the articles, but, also, to arrange the whole so as to har- 

 monize with the architectural embellishment of the large hall and 

 thus to produce a proper testhetical effect. 



For a particular account of the present condition of the museum, 

 and for a detailed history of the several series of collections of which 

 it is composed, I beg leave to refer to the report of Professor Baird, 

 herewith annexed. 



It is proper to add that the Institution continues to be under great 

 obligations to the steamer line to California via Panama (consisting of 

 the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Panama Kailroadand 

 the Pacific Mail Steamship Company,) for its most generous and 

 liberal aid in carrying packages between New York and the Pacific 

 coast free of all expense. The agents of the line, Mr. I, W. Kay- 

 mond in New York, and Mr. A. B. Forbes in San Francisco, have 

 also paid particular attention to the secure and certain transmission 

 of these parcels. When it is known that the aggregate amount trans- 

 ported for the Institution during the year has been not far from one 

 hundred packages, embracing valuable Natural History material, and 

 that merely the ordinary expenses of the transit would have been pro- 

 hibitory of the reception of most of them, some idea may be gathered 

 of the part taken by these companies in the development of the 

 Natural History of the west coast of America. Nor must it be for- 

 gotten that the packages carried free of charge by them contain not 

 only specimens of Natural History from the Pacific, but also large num- 

 bers of valuable books, presented by or through the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, to libraries in California, Oregon and Washington, thus adding 

 greatly to the literary and scientific resources of the west. Hearty 

 acknowledgments are also due for service of similar character to the 

 Pacific Steam Navigation Company, and to the Express Company of 

 Messrs. Wells, Fargo & Co. Mr. Banning, the government freight 

 contractor between Fort Tejon and Los Angelos, has also transported 

 several boxes free of charge. 



Gallery of Art. — A large number of portraits, formerly in the 

 Patent Office, of Indian chiefs and a few females of the different tribes 

 which have from time to time visited Washington, which were painted 

 at the expense of government, has been added to the Gallery of Art. 

 These, with the Stanley paintings, now form perhaps the most 



