REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 145 



not procure oue. The fringe of unsettled region which separates the true Arab from 

 settled regions is here a wide one, and this plan of the Museum, which is altogether 

 feasible, can only be carried out at some point like Aden and the upper Nile, say at 

 YVady Haifa-Tripoli or near the present work of the Babylonian Expedition, of Penn- 

 sylvania University, where the true nomad Arab is within a few hours of an Amer- 

 ican agent. Modification in this type is in rapid progress, and in a few years it will 

 be too late. 



(3) I have been aide to lind but one book in the Berber language in the possession 

 of an European. Nearly every one, including native scholars and European residents 

 oflong standing, have told me that they have never heard of one. The utmost I have 

 been able to secure is a leaf or two of an old Berber manuscript on Moslem law, which 

 is, I think, unique. 



(4) A large share of my purchases has therefore been of "simple utensils." A 

 full list, erivine in each case the native name of each article, will be transmitted later. 

 The chief objects I have sought to illustrate are, in brief — 



The lamp in ordinary use here is the " Roman lamp " form, and I have this from a 

 rude metal up through a series of elaborate brass forms. 



Fires are built in small pots. These range from eartheuware shaped by hand, 

 through successive additions to a tall iron stove. 



The preparation of food is illustrated among other phases by a complete set with 

 samples of the plant used in making cooscoosu, the national dish. 



The ground palm, Chamcerops humile, plays a most important part in domestic 

 economy, nowhere noted, and this is illustrated in all stages of its leaf and liber. 



Comb manufactures, giving carpenter's tools, form a single compact exhibit with 

 photographs, and this is supplemented by a primitive lathe. 



The Fry pottery offers an unusual instance of a local pottery unaffected by modern 

 methods, and a full set of its patterns are included. 



There are also a number of lesser articles, of which an interesting one is the sur- 

 vival of the wooden sword, unnoticed by any previous traveler. 



Three costumes have been purchased : (1) Fry woman ; (2) mountaineer man ; (3) 

 mountaineer woman. 



In each case the native name of each article is noted, an omission which robs many 

 museum costumes of an important linguistic value. 



I send in addition three hundred species of (lowering plants and fossils from three 

 localities, from none of which have they been collected before. 



A small shipment was made from Teheran and another from here will be sent later 

 of seven boxes and one bundle, the invoice", etc., of which I have transmitted to Mr. 

 G. Brown Goode. 



"Invoice No. 7. — Shipped /« Smithsonian [nstitution, Washington, D. C, I . S. ./. 

 From Teheran — 



1 Hat $0. 60 



I Snuff-box LOO 



1 Palmetto prayer-mat 15 



1 Ood. musical instrument 2.00 



1 < riubrede K» 



1 Giubrede 60 



I Kabab and pans of Giubrede .'. 2.00 



•l Snuff-boxes 10 



I >uboga-folley drum 25 



•J Candle-sticks (II 



1 Plow-yoke 3.00 



L0. It 

 U. Mis. 224, pi. 2 10 



