THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



problems offered by the Amur tribes. Mr. Fowke had done much 

 archaeological work in America, and he was to carry on archaeologi- 

 cal researches in the Amur pro\-ince. Unfortunately the depart- 

 ure of the expedition was delayed by the difficult}' of obtaining 

 the necessary permissions and passports from the Russian (_jo\-- 

 emment. These obstacles were eventually overcome through 

 the assistance of the United States Embassy in St. Petersburg, 

 and through the active interest taken in the investigations by 

 the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. Dr. Laufer 

 and Mr. Fowke arrived at \'la<livostok on June ig, 1898, and 

 proceeded thence to Khabarovsk, on the Amur. Here they 

 separated. Mr. Fowke descended the Amur in a boat, investi- 

 gating the remains along both banks of the river. 



Dr. Laufer went down the river by steamer, and crossed to 

 the Island of Saghalin, which he reached on July 10, 1898. He 

 staid on the island until March 21, iSgg, investigating the Gilyak, 

 Tungus and Ainu tribes. The fall of 1898 he spent among the 

 Gilyak tribes of the northeastern part of Saghalin ; later he trav- 

 elled southward along the east coast of the island. Unfortu- 

 nately in October, when visiting a Gilyak village about twelve 

 miles inland, Dr. Laufer was taken ill with the grippe, which was 

 followed by pneumonia, so that his investigations suffered a long 

 inten-uption. When hardly well enough to resume his work, 

 he journeyed southward, at first on horseback and then on 

 reindeer-sledges, visiting the Tungus and Ainu of the central 

 and southern parts of the island. When about to continue his 

 journey farther southward, he received a telegram from the 

 Russian Governor, informing him of the presence of a band 

 of desperadoes, who had built a fort in that region and had ter- 

 rorized the whole country. Nevertheless he spent enough time 

 among the Ainu to collect a considerable amount of valuable 

 information. 



On March 4, 1899, he reported on the progress of his work as 

 follows : 



Among the collections which I made on the Island of Saghalin 

 there are several very interesting specimens. I obtained from the 

 Olcha Tungus a collection of wooden idols and amulets made of fish- 



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