54 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1948 
Central Plains.” He also took part in a regional conference of Na- 
tional Park Service officials at which various phases of the River 
Basins program were discussed and plans for the future were formu- 
lated. In May he went to Milwaukee, Wis., to attend the annual 
meeting of the Society for American Archeology and presided over a 
symposium on “The River Basin Archeological Surveys.” Dr. Rob- 
erts’ report on the River Basin Surveys appears in another section of 
this report. 
Dr. John P. Harrington, ethnologist, was occupied at the beginning 
of the fiscal year in the preparation of a supplement to his recently 
completed Aleutian grammar. This supplement contains a long lst 
of terms relating to natural history, weather, material cultures, 
sociology, religion, and geography. Following this Dr. Harrington 
completed a grammar of the Maya language consisting of 750 type- 
written pages. This study is of particular importance, as Maya is 
one of the “classic” languages of aboriginal America. 
Dr. Harrington then prepared and brought to completion a gram- 
mar of the Cahuilla language. The Cahuilla Indians are at present 
the leading native tribe of southern California. A large report on 
the Guarani language of South America was also finished. Guarani 
in the Republic of Paraguay has been given equal cfficial and legal 
standing with Spanish. This is the only instance in which a native 
Indian language has been given a true literate status. A smaller paper 
on the Matako language of the central part of the Gran Chaco of 
Argentina was next completed. It was found that in many respects 
this language is surprisingly similar to Guarani. Another large 
paper was then prepared, describing and discussing the three principal 
ideographic writing systems of the world, Egyptian, Chinese, and 
Maya. 
Dr. Henry B. Collins, Jr., ethnologist, spent the period from June 
19 to August 16 on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., engaged in an archeo- 
logical survey of the western end of the island. He found a number of 
prehistoric Indian village and camp sites, mainly in the Chilmark- 
Menemsha-Gay Head region, and made collections of artifacts. On 
returning to Washington he resumed his Eskimo studies. 
As chairman of the Board of Governors of the Arctic Institute of 
North America, Dr. Collins continued to devote considerable time to 
the affairs of that organization. In the course of the year the Arctic 
Institute, with increased support from governmental and other sources, 
expanded its research and other activities. It opened a New York 
office at the American Geographical Society headquarters, established 
an open membership, and began publication of a journal. It spon- 
sored and administered a number of field studies in anthropology, 
botany, zoology, geology, and geography. These projects carried out 
