THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



as the Stanovoy Mountains, was tolerable, but further west, 

 swamps, rivers, mountain-passes, and almost impassable thick- 

 ets made progress very difficult. On the upper course of the Kor- 

 kodon we had to rest our horses. The cold became more intense 

 day by day. In order to reach Verchne-Kolymsk before the 

 closing of the rivers, I left my Yakut guides to follow with the 

 pack train and started on a raft down the Korkodon, to reach 

 the uppermost village of the Yukagheer. There I hoped to meet 

 boats that I had previously ordered. This journey by raft oc- 

 cupied nine days. The river is very rapid, full of driftwood, 

 and the descent was full of dangers. I stayed among the Yu- 

 kagheer of the Korkodon for four days, in order to collect speci- 

 mens and information. Then we continued our hurried journey 

 by boat. On Oct. 7, when we were still 45 versts away from 

 Verchne-Kolymsk, the river froze up, and we had to continue 

 our journey on foot. On Oct. 21, when the weather had be- 

 come somewhat settled, we visited the winter quarters of the 

 natives, who live about 70 versts from Verchne-Kolymsk, and 

 staid with them until Nov. 17. During this time I made a col- 

 lection of ethnological specimens, photographs, masks in plaster 

 of Paris and anthropometric measurements, and added to the 

 information collected on my first expedition. I proceeded next 

 to Nishne-Kolymsk where I studied the Yukagheer of that dis- 

 trict. This work occupied the time until Feb. 15, 1902." After 

 his return from this district, Mr. Jochelson turned his attention 

 to the study of the Yakut, among which tribe he made a con- 

 siderable collection. 



The work of the Jesup expedition has contributed much to 

 the Asiatic collections of the Museum, which have been made 

 largely with respect to their bearing upon problems of American 

 ethnology. In adding to the general collections of the Depart- 

 ment, the same point of view has been adhered to through- 

 out. It has seemed best to develop first those collections which 

 have an immediate practical and scientific interest for America, 

 while scientific considerations have led us to develop the Siberian 

 collection. The culture of Siberia has been much influenced by 

 China, which is occupying a more and more important place in 



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