REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 57 



Mr. D. I. Bushnell, jr., continued the preparation of the manu- 

 script for the Handbook of Aboriginal Remains East of the Mis- 

 sissippi, about 50,000 words being added to the material previously 

 furnished, not including a portion that was rewritten as a result of a 

 discovery of new and valuable information pertaining to certain 

 localities. Introductions to the archeology of various States remain 

 to be written, but it is believed that both the manuscript and the 

 illustrations for the entire bulletin will be completed before the close 

 of the fiscal year 1918. 



Under the joint auspices of the bureau and the National Museum 

 Dr. A. Hrdicka visited in October, 1916, a site at Vero, Florida, at 

 which were found certain human remains reputed to be of great 

 antiquity. As a summary account of Doctor Hrdlicka's observations 

 has already appeared in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections (vol. 

 66, no. 17, pp. 24—29, 1917) and an extended report will be published 

 in Bulletin 66 of the bureau, now in press, it need only be mentioned 

 that a thorough inquiry has resulted decisively against the assump- 

 tion of great antiquity of the remains. The pottery and the bone 

 and stone objects found in association with the human burials are 

 identical with similar artifacts of the Florida and other southeastern 

 Indians, while the bones themselves without exception exhibit mod- 

 ern features, with numerous characteristics that permit their identi- 

 fication as purely Indian. 



Owing to the fact that Dr. A. L. Kroeber, of the Univesity of 

 California, found it expedient to elaborate certain portions of his 

 handbook of the Indians of California, it was not practicable to 

 submit the entire manuscript before the close of the fiscal year, but 

 at this writing there is every prospect that the work will be ready 

 for publication within a short time. 



MANUSCRIPTS. 



The following manuscripts, exclusive of those submitted for publi- 

 cation, were received by the bureau: 



Photostat copy of a San Bias vocabulary, recorded by Ensign J. M. Creigh- 

 ton, United States Navy, transmitted to the Smithsonian Institution by the 

 Secretary of the Navy. 



Phillipine songs presented by Mr. E. H. Hammond, of Albuquerque, New 

 Mexico. 



Photograph of a picture writing on elk skin by Washakie, the Shoshoni chief, 

 with a key thereto. 



Reports on prehistoric ruins in Arizona, with numerous photographs, pre- 

 pared by the late S. J. Holsinger, of the General Land Office, and deposited 

 in the bureau by the United States Forest Service. 



Abnaki hymns from John Tahamont, of Pierreville, Quebec, presented by 

 George G. Heye, Esq. 



