REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 39 



Similar collections have been received through Mr. Metcalfe from a 

 cave near Silver City, I^. Mex., showing- a similarity of treatment of 

 the subject over a wide extent of the country. 



At the last session of Congress the sum of $5,000 was especially re- 

 served, by enactment, from the appropriation for ethnological researches 

 to be exx^ended in continuing investigations into aboriginal mounds, and 

 several gentlemen were assigned to this business. The most important 

 contributions under this arrangement have been made by Dr. Edward 

 Palmer, who has spent several months in Tennessee, and subsequently 

 in Arkansas. A large number of boxes have been received from him, 

 containing some extremely rare and even unique objects. 



Dr. AV. De Hass was assigned to a certain region in West Virginia 

 and adjacent portions of Eastern Ohio. This work has been prosecuted 

 during the summer, but as yet no collections have been received. 



Mr. W. J. Taylor, of Nashville, Tenn., has furnished a number of speci- 

 mens similar in character to those of Mr. Palmer. 



Mr. S. T. Walker has also procured some mound relics from Florida. 

 His collections are all very interesting, as showing some i^eculiarities in 

 the contents of prehistoric mounds ani^ graves in that State as compared 

 with those of Tennessee and Arkansas. 



Ethnological and archaeological explorations, heretofore conducted by 

 the Bureau of Ethnology in the Northwest, under the direction of Pro- 

 fessor Powell, were continued over contiguous areas to those examined 

 the two previous years. The vast quantities of valuable material, both 

 ancient and modern, possessed by the Pueblo tribes made it important 

 that the work of collecting should be carried on extensively, in order to 

 secure as much as possible, before they were carried away by visitors 

 and speculators, who are now, since the railroads make that region ac- 

 cessible, visiting that country frequently. A party was equipped and 

 l)laced in charge of Mr. James Stevenson to prosecute the work among 

 the Indians of the Province of Tusegan, known as the Seven Moquis, 

 and also to secure an additional collection from the Pueblos of Zuiii, 

 The party proceeded to each of these localities, from which large and 

 varied collections were made, consisting of everything pertaining to 

 the religious and domestic life of these tribes. The collections from Mo- 

 qui are unique and valuable, consisting of a large number of ancient 

 earthenware vessels and stone implements. Among the formerare some 

 very handsome vases elaborately decorated with unknown designs, and 

 of new forms in structure from any hitherto found. The tribes from 

 whom they were obtained had no knowledge of their origin, but they 

 were in all probability made by the people who resided in a village of 

 considerable dimensions, about twelve miles east of Moqui, called by 

 the Xavajos Tallyhogan or singing houses. An examination of this 

 village, which is now in ruins, revealed immense quantities of fragments 

 of pottery, on all of which were designs and figures, similar to those on 

 the ancient vessels just referred to, which were obtained from the Mo- 



