136 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



House Board, tiie Land Offico, tbe rost-OHice Department, the (V^nsus 

 maps, etc, have been eaiefully studied and a uniform spelling adopted. 

 Two bulletins have been published by the Jioard, and others will be 

 ready for the printer by the end of the fiscal year. 



The curator has been called upon frequently in this j>eographi(? work 

 to settle the spelling of aboriginal names, and this has necessitated a 

 great deal of research. 



In September, 1890, a fresh start was made in the preparation of life- 

 size lay-figures of aboriginal people. Fortunately, Mr. Heli Chatelaiu 

 brought with him from Angola a native, named Jeremiah, of whom Mr, 

 Mills has made an excellent i-eproduction for the ethnic series. Ar- 

 rangements have been made to follow up this work of making lay- 

 figures to illustrate all the stocks of North American aborigines. 



In October the dei)artment was fortunate enough to again s«H'ure 

 the services of Lient. T, Dix Bolles, U. S. Navy, who devoted several 

 months to the arrangement and cataloguing of specinuMis in our pos- 

 session from Oceanica. This he has worked up with assiduous care, 

 and too much praise can not be accorded to the Secretary of tbe Navy 

 for the continued exhibition of his interest in oui- work, in thus assign- 

 ing Lieut. Bolles and other efidcieut officers to duty in this Institution. 

 A great deal of this jnaterial which Lieut. Bolles has set up had l)een 

 stored away for years, awaiting examination by some one familiar with 

 Polynesian studies. Valuable additions to the collections from Ocean- 

 ica were sent by Admiral Kimberly and Lieut. Safford, U. S, Navy, 

 and the latter showed his continued interest in the Museum by spend- 

 ing some time in gi\dng information concerning the Sanioan collection. 



In November the curator delivered an addiess before the Folk Lore 

 Congress in New York upon the scieiitilic treatment of tliis subject, 

 taking the ground that we have in the survivals of custom, language, 

 and belief a species of arclneology, in whi(di is contained a record of 

 human history not to be found in printed page or in material relics, 

 but in the conduct and belief of the unlettered folk. A systematic 

 effort will be made to give dignity and effect to this study by more care- 

 ful collectinc: and by the comparison of larger bodies of material. 



In December the Latin-American dei)artment of the World's Fair, 

 under Mr. William E. Curtis, secured the cooi)eratiou of several officers 

 of the Army and Navy as commissioners to Central and South Amer- 

 ican Bepublics, to awaken an interest in, and secure material for, the 

 World's Fair at Chicago. These gentlemen si)ent several weeks in the 

 Museum taking lessons in photography, taxidermy, making squeezes, 

 and practising other operations lUH^essary to i)erfect them in their work. 

 Before the end of the fiscal year favorable reports were receivc^l from 

 these officers. 



In January was comiileted a card catalogue of the large <'ollecti(ms of 

 religious objects secured among the pueblos of the southwest, by the 

 Bureau of Ethnology. These specimens have been in the Museum for 



