86 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



The last entry in the catalogue on June 30, 1895, was 62781, and on 

 June 30, 1896, 63469. 



DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOLOGY. 



The value of the accessions during the fiscal year just closed is not 

 so great as during the previous year, owing to the fact that in 1894-95 

 a considerable (juantity of material was obtained especially for exhibi- 

 tion at the Cotton States and International Exposition at Atlanta. 

 Since the return of these exhibits the curator, Prof. Otis T. Mason, 

 has been occupied in installing such as could be placed upon exhibition, 

 the remainder having been put in storage. 



The most important accession of the year was from Dr. J. Walter 

 Fewkes, consisting of more than one thousand five hundred specimens 

 of anti(]uities from the Pueblo region. This is regarded as the most 

 valuable material ever received by the National Museum from the 

 southwest. An important collection of ethnological specimens was also 

 sent in by Dr. W. L. Abbott. This material was obtained in the Vale of 

 Kashmir. Dr. Washington Matthews, United States Army, presented 

 a small but valuable collection of paints and dyes used by the Navajo 

 Indians, and from the Royal Zoological Museum, Florence, Italy, through 

 Prof. H. H. Giglioli, an interesting series of specimens was received in 

 exchange. Among other accessions the following may be noticed: A 

 collection from New Guinea, made by Dr. A. G. Haddon; a collection 

 of objects designed to illustrate the cannibal ceremonies of the Fort 

 Eupert Indians, made by Dr. Franz Boas; a series of two hundred and 

 six specimens from the Lubuy Museum, Poltava, Little Russia; and a 

 small collection obtained by the United States Fish Commission in 

 Alaska. 



Upon the return of the collections sent to the Atlanta Exposition, a 

 radical change was necessitated both in the exhibition halls and in 

 the storage rooms. In the chapter entitled "The Development and 

 Arrangement of the Exhibition Series" will be found a paragraph 

 relating to the rearrangement of the halls. In the upper story of the 

 north tower on the west side of the building are stored such objects as 

 can not be arranged in cases or drawers, while in the third story 

 the entire collection of Eskimo costumes, snowshoes, and objects con- 

 nected with i)ersonal adornment and with travel are packed away. In 

 the small room on the lower floor of this tower a large portion of the 

 Dorsey Mohun African collection is stored, together with the collection 

 of breech-loading firearms, the series of foods and medicines, and a 

 number of other objects. The corresponding room in the south tower 

 is filled with swinging screens and unit boxes. All manuscripts, cata- 

 logues, drawings, and photographs relating to the collections have been 

 placed in the rooms in the second story of the soutli tower. The curator 

 states that the material not on exhibition is in better condition than 

 ever before. 



